


Mokuren

by MelissaKeith



Series: Tales of Mokuren [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Boruto Sarada etc don't exist here, Gen, Next Generation, No Romance, Original Character Death(s), Original Character-centric, Unreliable Narrator, transgender character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:45:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 65,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8849074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelissaKeith/pseuds/MelissaKeith
Summary: This is the story of Mokuren, a kunoichi born and raised in the Village Hidden in the Sand about twenty years after the end of the Fourth Great War.After being placed on a team, her life as a shinobi finally begins - and in no time at all, she is drawn into a conspiracy much larger than her own ambitions.Next up: Arc Five, The Great Tournament; Chapter Three, No Holding Back!Side stories and databook profiles can be found in Mokuren: Asides





	1. Arc 1: Meeting

_**Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once. Anything you recognize from somewhere else obviously doesn't belong to me.** _

_**Brief Author's Note: This is OC-Centric, takes place in Suna long after the series, uses some Japanese terms with no translations, and personalities are presented slowly. Everyone will seem stereotypical in the beginning -** _ _**I am really, really bad at beginnings**_ _ **. I also introduce too many characters at a time, but there will be reminders of initial details for important characters.** _

* * *

_**Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter One, Meeting Temari-sensei**_

The Village Hidden in the Sand was the least populated major ninja village in the world. It was known best for its poisons, its puppetry, and its Kazekage, who had lead the entire world in an unbelievable war.

It was not known for forgiving useless ninja, regardless of how tired they might be.

"Team One - Maitsu, Udonsu, Kirikama!"

Entering the classroom as quietly as she could manage, Mokuren wasn't sure if she should feel annoyed that her clock had fallen behind or relieved that she hadn't been too late to hear all of the teams. She slid into a seat in the back beside Maitsu, hoping that her teacher hadn't noticed her absence.

Today was a very important day, after all. The first real day of her genin career. She should have gotten more sleep, definitely, and left earlier. If only her neighbor had actually passed the exam...

"Team Two - Kurekiro, Aomaru -"

"You've got rings around your eyes." Maitsu scolded Mokuren, sounding more irritated than concerned. Since they were in the very back, Inoue paid them no mind. "You'd better hope your jounin sensei doesn't expect anything of you today, 'cause you don't look like you could handle any work."

"Don't you worry about me, Chibi-chan." Mokuren yawned away Maitsu's concerns.

"Don't call me that!" The three-feet six-inches high kunoichi snapped, glaring fiercely. Maitsu's short spiky black hair, short eyelashes and board-flat chest caused most people to mistake her for a boy. As this also led to people taking her more seriously despite her height, Maitsu dressed to encourage this misconception.

Because of that desire to be taken seriously, Maitsu was one of the few people in their class that Mokuren actually thought deserved to be a ninja.

She didn't particularly dislike her classmates, but none of them trained enough for her to feel secure asking them to watch her back.

"Team Three - Kentsu, Mokuren, Tetsuko!"

Mokuren's head flew up, and she frowned, not knowing who her teammates were. The names sounded familiar, but she couldn't put faces to them. It was one of the few downsides to spending her indoor class time sleeping.

"Team Four - Aiko, Shirota, Mizuru!" Inoue finished up, rolling her scroll back up.

"Yumi-sensei, who are my teammates?" Mokuren stood up to ask.

"My name isn't Yumi, it's Inoue!" She shot back reflexively. "Honestly, how did someone like you ace the test?" The teacher moaned, rubbing her forehead.

Just looking at Mokuren, much less speaking to her, gave her instant headaches. The way the girl slept in class and forgot the name of a teacher she'd had for years - how could such a disrespectful girl become a kunoichi?

"The heck?! A girl got the best score?" A boy with pinkish-orange hair whined, standing up angrily. "That's ridiculous! Who the heck is she anyway? She doesn't look familiar at all. Are you even in the right room?" His voice was very loud, and he banged the table with his fist a few times for emphasis.

"Are you suggesting women can't become strong ninja?" Inoue spoke icily, releasing an angry aura. Personal affronts were nearly punishable by death in her classroom.

"N-no, of course not!" He yelped, ducking under his desk quickly.

Mokuren snorted and shook her head, seeming unwillingly amused by the cowardice of her classmate.

"I pity whichever girl is on your team." She told him.

"You are the girl on his team." Inoue scowled, her anger abating as her headache returned.

"What? How is that fair?!" The thin boy with crazy black hair sitting beside the loud one called, standing up and frowning. "I thought teams were supposed to have an even distribute or whatever of -"

"Your team is even! After all, she aced the test... and the two of you just barely passed at all!"

In fact, Inoue had expected them to fail it miserably. The two never seemed dedicated to learning, as they always focused on arguing with one another and hardly interacting at all with their other classmates.

"Shouldn't we have the worst, the best, and the most average on our team then?" Mokuren argued, more for the sake of argument than any other reason.

"They tied for worst, and - oh, just shut up!" Inoue snapped, annoyed at having her authority questioned.

She glared around angrily, her eyes daring another student to talk. When nobody did, she relaxed slightly.

"Alright. So. I want you all to sit with your teammates and get to know each other. I'm going to come around and explain what location and time you are to meet your jounin sensei. If there's any fighting, I'm taking away the genin status of each participant!"

While adding this, Inoue glowered at the two loud-mouthed boys Mokuren now had for teammates.

Once each team had been placed together, Mokuren smiled brightly towards the boys. "It's nice to meet you both. My name is Mokuren - what are your names?"

The larger boy merely scowled at her, while the black-haired boy's face turned a little pink and he hurried to say, "My name is Tetsuko - this idiot's name is Kentsu. It's nice to meet you, Mokuren-chan!"

Mokuren's smile slipped away and she raised an eyebrow at the honorific. She wasn't exactly used to such familiarity, and especially from someone she was talking to for the first time.

"Who are you calling an idiot? You loser!"

"You're both annoying - have you forgotten what Yumi-sensei said already?" Mokuren asked them, setting her head down as a wave of tiredness hit her. She thought she heard Kentsu reply - something about a boar, or maybe a well - she fell asleep too quickly to really listen.

Tetsuko was kind enough to wake Mokuren when Inoue dismissed everyone and explain to her where and when they were supposed to meet their jounin sensei. She just hoped he hadn't lied so that he could laugh about it later, because she had the feeling that if she asked Inoue she'd be taking Academy classes all over again.

Mokuren arrived at the rooftop Tetsuko had directed her to ten minutes early to see that the black-haired boy was already there waiting. Stepping around a poorly hidden trap, Mokuren raised an eyebrow at him. Tetsuko awkwardly rubbed his neck. "It's for Kentsu." He explained.

"There's no way he's that stu-" Mokuren began to say, but broke off as her unfinished statement was proven wrong.

"What the heck?" Kentsu shouted, writhing on the ground for a moment, trying to pull his foot out of the trap. Soon enough, though, he was free and throwing angry hooks at Tetsuko. Mokuren couldn't judge the strength behind the punch, but she raised an eyebrow at the way he wildly threw it. Not a single hit landed, although the other boy also seemed clumsy and didn't punch back. Instead, he broke away and began throwing shuriken. Tetsuko's aim was such that although Kentsu was unaffected, Mokuren - who was far to the right - almost lost a toe.

"Are you two seriously this pathetic?" She asked, doing her best to sound uncaring, but internally she couldn't help thinking, _they are, they really are, maybe I shouldn't have annoyed Yumi-sensei so much -_

"Who are you calling pathetic?" Kentsu shouted, while Tetsuko looked somewhat dejected.

"Is there some other pathetic duo around here I could be referring to?" She asked irritably, stepping forward.

"Why, you -" The pink-orange-haired boy - seriously, why wasn't there a specific color for the shade? - growled as he ran at Mokuren. He tried to punch her, but she sidestepped and then tripped him, sending him sprawling.

"Even Kamiki fights better than that, and she _failed_ the genin exam." Mokuren sighed as she shook her head. _Maybe Yumi-sensei only passed them so that they could drag me down._ The idea wasn't completely impossible - Inoue was a little more vengeful than an Academy teacher should be. Still, Mokuren had hoped the woman would be happy enough just to see her gone.

Tetsuko finally stepped in, although he looked very hesitant. "Look, you two really shouldn't argue, I mean, Kentsu really does need to work on his skills but -"

"He's not the only one." Mokuren pointed out. "What were you aiming at, earlier? None of the shuriken even came close to hitting him. Do you ever practice?"

Tetsuko wilted at the criticism, and Mokuren couldn't help but feel annoyed. "And honestly, what is with you? Even your attitude is pathetic! You're a ninja, aren't you? When someone insults you, get angry."

"He's not going to get angry at a girl." Kentsu sneered, pushing himself up.

"Funny, I remember him yelling at me in the classroom..."

"That was before he saw your face and -"

"Shut up!" Tetsuko barked, his face apple-red. Actually, it suddenly looked really familiar... While Mokuren took a moment to try and recall exactly what his face reminded her of, the two boys began to argue again. She didn't listen to much of it, but she distinctly heard the word 'crush' and wondered if they were really tossing around threats that lame.

"If the both of you don't shut up, I'll make you." Mokuren had just declared when she suddenly felt someone heading their way. If it was their jounin sensei, she didn't want her team making such an awful impression that they were sent back instantly, even if a return to the Academy seemed inevitable.

"Ha! I'd like to see you -" Kentsu began to say, but Mokuren cut him off, appearing in front of him suddenly and covering his mouth.

"Someone's coming - do you want our teacher's first impression of you to be the same as what you've given me? You'll be back in the Academy before you can say 'No'."

Somehow, that logic actually got into his head, and the three arranged themselves in a line. Although Mokuren felt nervous waiting as the person she could sense slowly approached, she nonetheless began to doze off standing now that all was quiet.

"Are you team three?" Mokuren's eyes shot open at the question; she hadnt noticed them close. She felt even more dizzy when she recognized the woman in front of her.

"Are you our jounin sensei?" Tetsuko managed to mumble out, despite his jaw resting beside his toes. Mokuren had a feeling she wouldn't be able to speak nearly as well, just then.

"I am. My name -"

"Aren't you Kazekage-sama's sister?!" Kentsu blurted out.

"I am." Temari's voice was flat this time. "However, I do still have a name. Temari."

Kentsu grimaced and made to hide behind Tetsuko. However, the other boy pushed him away and bowed respectfully to Temari, with Mokuren copying him a second later. Their other teammate took a minute, and then realized that he should probably apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted..."

Temari exhaled, and reminded herself that the three in front of her were mere children. "Nevermind that. Anyway, introduce yourselves. Give your names, likes, dislikes and goals."

Glancing at the other two and seeing that they were looking towards him, Kentsu grimaced. "My name's Kentsu... I like to eat?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. "I really dislike those two." He added with a sudden burst of confidence. "And as far as goals... I'm going to beat the smug look off this girl's face," He waved an arm towards Mokuren, "And become Kazekage some day!"

Mokuren groaned. Weren't there any original goals left in the world? Couldn't they just settle with becoming jounin or learning a certain number of techniques, or something plausible like that? There had only ever been four Kazekage. Four. There had been thousands of Suna nin, and even if that didn't bring his chances down to almost nothing, the current Kazekage, Gaara, didn't look like he'd be stepping down anytime soon.

"I'm Tetsuko." The black-haired boy introduced himself nervously, but in a clearer voice than Kentsu had used. "I really like looking at the stars and... well..." He turned slightly pink again and Kentsu scowled. "Anyway, I dislike this guy, and I'll definitely become Kazekage before he does."

Well, that wasn't quite as awful... but now it was her turn. What to say, what to say... "My name is Mokuren, I like to eat squid and help out at my favorite restaurant. I don't particularly dislike anything, and my goals are to surpass my father and protect my village." Because obviously that should be in every shinobi's list of goals. "It's nice to meet you, Temari-sensei." She added, bowing again. 

Temari nodded her head at Mokuren, her slight surprise not showing on her face. The information she'd received on the girl was that she had a habit of sleeping through lessons, ignoring her peers, and disrespecting her teachers. A note had also been added that the teacher suspected Mokuren had cheated somehow in order to pass the genin test with the top score, but Temari would judge the truth of that later. For now, the girl simply seemed boring.

Surveying her new team once more, Temari spoke authoritatively. "I expect to see the three of you on training ground twelve at four in the morning tomorrow. If you're not there on time, make sure you return your forehead protector afterwards. I've no use for tardy ninja. Dismissed!" She said abruptly, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Mokuren blinked. "Was that a shadow clone?" She asked uncertainly. "That didn't seem right for a space-time jutsu..." By 'that', Mokuren was referring to the smoke, and the fact that the Temari just now had definitely had chakra and so it couldn't have been a normal clone.

"We have a teacher who knows _the_ jutsu! Do you think we could -" Kentsu began eagerly, his eyes lighting up.

"You don't have enough chakra." Mokuren immediately shot him down.

"You can't know that." Tetsuko protested.

"I do." Mokuren assured him. "No genin has reserves large enough to use the shadow clone, that'd be ridiculous."

"Naruto-sama -"

"Was a container for a bijuu, so his chakra reserves were huge even as a genin." After a pause she added, "Don't try to compare yourselves to him - Nanadaime Hokage is a thousand times more powerful than either of you could ever hope to be."

Neither of the boys argued, but Mokuren hadn't expected them to. The way her father told it, Uzumaki Naruto was God to this world now, and even the stupidest of idiots - like these two - would agree.They did, however, seem to sulk.

With her meetings and such over for the day, Mokuren headed to Gyo Shokudou.

Just the outline of the restaurant was enough to drown her in memories, but nearly all of them were pleasant and she couldn't help smiling as she hurried in. As it was midday, the restaurant was very nearly empty, and Reiko, the owner, was resting her face on a table in the corner. It was the nearest booth to the hallway that contained the bathrooms and her office - which she  _normally_ napped in.

"You're going to get robbed someday." Mokuren told her exasperatedly, sliding into the seat across.

"If that happens, I'll just make _you_ go get my money back. You're a ninja now, aren't you?" Reiko mumbled, her head still on the table.

"I am, which means you'd have to request a mission and _pay me_."

"But I won't be able to pay you, _I'll be broke_."

"That's your problem then, isn't it?"

"Mokurennnnnnn... you're so mean." Reiko complained, finally lifting her head. "I used to give you free food, didn't I?"

"Out of the kindness of your heart, you told me. That means you can't ask me to pay you back for it." Mokuren pointed out, absently scraping gum off the underside of the table and tossing it into the garbage can.

"Mean mean meanie..." Reiko pouted, and then started as one of her employees giggled. "What are you laughing at?" She snapped over their way, which sent the poor boy scurrying back to the kitchen.

"Somehow, that seemed more 'mean' than my refusing to help with a hypothetical situation."

"Somehow, you sound like a puppet." Reiko retorted, sorting out her dark hair. "Now if you're not going to eat anything, get out - I can't have you loitering around here all day!"

"Fine, fine... I'll go bother Senurou-jii." Mokuren spoke around a small yawn.

"Actually, could you go and see Kamiki-san? She came by here earlier looking for you." Reiko's tone became much more polite and her back straightened as her eyes followed a family entering her restaurant. "Isn't that Suiko or whomever?" She added, looking at a girl around Mokuren's age with golden blonde hair.

"That's Sui-chan." Mokuren agreed. At the moment, Suikana and her family were not really on the list of people that the brunette wanted to talk to, considering that the girl was still visibly upset about her failure on the genin exam. The blonde had always thought herself much better than Mokuren in strength as well as appearance, so Mokuren hoped that the girl hadn't noticed her or her forehead protector. Suikana had never been one to take such things well, and so Mokuren slipped out of the building through a window in the girl's bathroom as soon as she could.

Almost the second Mokuren knocked on her door, Kamiki opened it. The quiet girl looked oddly upset as she let Mokuren in and hurried to get something to drink, but the brunette still took a moment to look around the apartment. She and Kamiki had been friends-of-a-sort and neighbors since they were about seven years old, but Mokuren still knew next to nothing about the girl. Kamiki had black hair, dark green eyes, and she was an orphan - she didn't really like board games or card games or leaving her house, but Kamiki was enrolled in the ninja academy nonetheless. Mokuren didn't know why, and although she'd been tempted, she had never asked.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Mokuren asked, taking a cup from Kamiki.

The other girl bit her lip nervously. "Nothing specific." Kamiki's voice was very soft, to the point she could barely be heard. "Just... I wanted to know if you had become a genin. I haven't seen you in quite a while... Clearly you are." She added, her eyes on Mokuren's forehead. "Do you know who your teammates are yet?"

"I met with them today. One has pink-orange hair, can't stop yelling. The other boy has black hair, acts pretty weird. I think they're friends?"

Her vagueness meant that it took Kamiki an extra moment. "Kento and Tetsue or something like that?" At Mokuren's nod, she continued. "They're famous for being the most annoying people in our class. I don't think they're really too bad, though." She mumbled the last part, looking down at her lap.

"Most annoying? Then why haven't I heard of them?" In her opinion, Suikana was the most annoying, so.

Kamiki coughed a little to hide a slight smile. "I think you were too deeply asleep to really hear them..."

Mokuren shrugged, unashamed. 

* * *

_**End Note: I'm editing the original first two chapters to smash them together, on advice from a friend. I will still be able to restore them if it looks dumb. Sorry if I'm a little wordy, too; I wrote this when I was a fifteen year old with a lot to prove.**_


	2. Arc 1: Teamwork

_**Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Two, Teamwork** _

Once again, Mokuren awoke from a nightmare around midnight. She had tried taking a pill, in the hopes she could get enough sleep for whatever Temari might have planned, but it seemed that wasn't going to work. Sitting up, she sighed and stretched before standing, wondering how she could be sore when she'd hardly done anything the day before. Going for a walk didn't sound like a great idea just then, so she grabbed a couple of scrolls, set an alarm for 3:30, and climbed onto the roof to read by the moonlight.

All too soon, her alarm rang and she went back inside. After starting the coffee pot, Mokuren put on her clothes and strapped on her weapons pack and sheathed sword. She was a little tempted to wake her mother, if only because it would annoy the woman, but she controlled herself.

Since her house was on the outskirts of the residential district, Mokuren didn't really need more than five minutes to reach the twelfth training ground. She left ten minutes early and found that once again, Tetsuko had beaten her there; and once again, he had set a trap for Kentsu. Irritated by this repetitive action, Mokuren dismantled it immediately.

Tetsuko looked a little resentful, but he didn't say anything. When Kentsu finally showed up, however, he had plenty to say. "You're so lazy! Are you trying to be late? Do you want to go back to the Academy?" Tetsuko bellowed at the tanned boy.

"Shut up, moron!" Kentsu immediately replied, his fingers curling to form fists. Tetsuko quickly pulled out a kunai, and Mokuren set her hand on her sword. She didn't really want these two idiots fighting each other today, but perhaps words could handle things.

"Are the two of you really going to fight? Temari-sama - I mean, Temari-sensei - could be here any minute."

"Don't interrupt! This has nothing to do with -" Kentsu broke off as the blood suddenly drained from his face. Mokuren had known that the sheer amount of chakra trapped in her father's sword could paralyze civilians, but she hadn't thought it would work quite this well on her teammates. They've _got a lot of training to do._ She sighed to herself. _That hasn't bothered me in months, and yet they can barely turn their heads to look at me._

"You both need to calm down and be quiet. You're teammates now - fighting amongst yourselves is disgraceful." Mokuren informed them, and then sheathed her sword again. A drop of sweat trickled down her forehead, but she doubted the other two would notice it and wiped it away with the guise of massaging her forehead exasperatedly. It took the boys a minute to start moving again, and their first action was to move far away from the girl.

The horizon looked a sickly sort of green by the time Temari arrived - exactly four in the morning. "Good morning," She said without a smile. Her students immediately replied in kind, Kentsu's response punctuated by a yawn. "Today, we'll have a sort of test. In order to effectively train you, I need to see for myself your strengths and weaknesses. For that reason, I want you all to attack me as if you wanted to kill me." Their new teacher declared.

Kentsu and Tetsuko shared an uneasy glance. "W-what are you saying? We can't do that! You're the -"

"Do you two completely lack brains?" Mokuren asked as she took a step towards Temari. "She's a jounin. _My_ best efforts won't be able to touch her - _yours_ won't get anywhere near her. You've got no reason to hesitate." Temari raised an eyebrow at her. Glancing back at the fuming boys, Mokuren shrugged and offered a smile.

Their teacher sighed, and then moved on. "Start!" She declared, and after a brief moment Kentsu barrelled towards her. She didn't even have to move; Kentsu blasted on past her, and made it ten feet before he turned around and tried again. Mokuren couldn't help imagining Temari dressed as a torera sighing and saying, 'Toro, toro...' while yawning.

"You should attack, too." Mokuren told Tetsuko, frowning. She couldn't let her imagination distract her. He jumped slightly, giving her an alarmed look before stepping unsurely towards Temari, who had only moved a few inches to avoid Kentsu's sloppy moves. Pulling out a kunai, Tetsuko awkwardly tossed it. The handle smacked Kentsu's arm, and he yelped before turning angrily on the black-haired boy. Tetsuko, too busy hiding his blush, stumbled back several feet and fell when Kentsu hits him.

All in all, Mokuren can't help but be disgusted. She still moved to help Tetsuko up and stand between the two boys, however. "Bishou, you're not supposed to attack Ringo, you're supposed to attack _Temari-sensei_." Mokuren scolded Kentsu. Ignoring the confused look on his face, she continued to say in a quieter voice, "The two of you need to cooperate! And practice, too, definitely, but that's later. For now - Bishou, run at her again like you did before but keep an eye out for Ringo's weapons this time. Try to annoy her enough that she'll lower her guard and then I'll go in. Ready? Go."

"I - _What?_ "

"Who are you even talking to?!"

"The two of you, of course." Mokuren replied, not understanding what their problem was.

"Then what's with the smiles and apples?"

Mokuren frowned momentarily. "Well, I can't seem to remember what your names are, so I decided to give you new ones. You are Bishou," she explained, pointing at Kentsu. "And you're Ringo." She told the other boy.

"Our real names are -" Tetsuko tried to offer helpfully.

"Anyway, let's go!" Mokuren intervened. "Bishou, get out there. Ringo, try not to hit him this time."

"Hell no! Shut up... ah... _era-sou o sage!_ " The boy paused briefly to come up with the insult.

Mokuren thought on it for a moment. She couldn't really find it insulting, though - she knew she could be condescending and she did wear pigtails. "Do you have another plan, then?"

"Yeah!" He sneered. " _You_ go out there and be the distraction! I'm not some warm-up act!"

"Maaa, you two aren't good enough to help me out anyway. It would be best if I tried alone." Dodging Kentu's sloppy fist and pulling his leg out from under him in the same movement, Mokuren then started towards their teacher, who had been tapping her foot and waiting up til then.

"You're finally going to do something?"

"Sort of." Mokuren shrugged, and then ran at Temari, pulling out a kunai. The older woman easily avoided the blade and girl, but looked a little less bored after Mokuren tried a taijutsu move her former tutor had shown her. Temari had dodged that as well, of course, but there were follow-up moves for that, leading up to the use of a minor illusion that _almost_ tripped Temari up. She'd made the teacher move almost four feet from her original space, though, and Mokuren felt slightly proud of herself. Her angrier teammate, however, looked like he wanted to chop her to pieces.

"A girl is not better than me!" Kentsu barked, mostly to himself. Temari gave him a flat look, but he wasn't paying her any mind as he ran at Mokuren who, once again, knocked him down and kicked him back towards the other boy. Furious at the sight of blood on Kentsu's face, Tetsuko began throwing kunai and shuriken at Mokuren, a few coming close enough that Mokuren actually had to knock them away.

A huge gust of wind sent all three new genin flying, until they smashed into a cliff. Their teacher approached them slowly, each step loud in Mokuren's ears.

"That was dreadful." Temari declared, her eyes flashing angrily. "Unbelievably so. Mokuren - you at least realized that this is meant as an exercise of teamwork. However, you clearly need to work on your communication skills and make a real effort to work with your teammates. Kentsu, Tetsuko - unless you are sparring each other at the request of a higher-ranked ninja, teammates are _never_ allowed to attack one another. I thought that was taught in the Academy, but evidently the two of you were unaware of this and so I'll let it go this time. The next time it happens, I will revoke your genin status."

Mokuren grimaced, sitting up. She couldn't remember being taught such a rule, but it did seemed like common sense.

"I think that proper communication is the first thing we need to work on. After all, you do need to be able to talk to your teammates without provoking them in order to complete even _D-Rank_ missions. So for the rest of today we'll work on that - if any of you go more than twenty feet away from me, hit one another, push one another, argue or in any way demonstrate dislike towards another teammate before sundown, you will _all_ be forced to return to the Academy. By the way - because of the nature of this test, even if you fail and are sent back you will be placed together on a team once again, you'll just be someone else's problem." Temari paused for a moment, looking over the boys' aghast faces and Mokuren's grimace before she reinforced her final point. "The three of you will _have_ to learn how to get along or none of you will _ever_ become shinobi."

The brunette cringed. She could almost hear her aspirations flushing away.

Kentsu and Tetsuko, however, shared fearful looks that soon hardened into determined ones. Kentsu had worked so hard on the basic jutsu over the last few months in order to pass that stupid test, and Tetsuko had spent so many hours exhausting himself in order to bring his taijutsu up; compared to that, how hard could it be to be friendly for a day?

Not that they'd ever tried before.

"Kill me now..." Kentsu moaned as Temari led the way out of a fifth clothing store. He hadn't even known there _was_ more than one clothing store in Suna.

"I can't..." Tetsuko groaned back. "Get off my shoulder." He added to Mokuren, just barely remembering that he couldn't just shove her off.

"Hmm? Are we going back to the Academy yet?" She yawned as she pulled away. She had barely kept pace as she slept.

"I wish." Kentsu mumbled, although he probably didn't mean it. Another year in the Academy was looking like a better and better option, though. "She's having too much fun torturing us."

"Common enemy tactic, maybe?" Mokuren mused, still half-asleep.

Temari stopped and gave Mokuren an amused glance over her shoulder. "No, that's what I went for _earlier_. This is a little more like a punishment for not taking that seriously. Don't argue," She added as Tetsuko opened his mouth. "I would rather think you weren't taking me seriously, because it's either that or believing that you don't take training seriously."

The pale boy's mouth snapped shut immediately, and he turned away as he began to blush. "Hmm, let's see... ah, this store looks interesting."

"... you're joking, right?" Mokuren said, slightly alarmed as she took in the sight of the lingerie store. "They can't go -"

"Oh, I'm sure there's something for the boys to look at." Temari replied, waving off Mokuren's concerns.

"What's the problem? It's just another clothing store right?" Kentsu asked, his expression somewhere between confused and irritated. The girl just grimaced in reply.

Mokuren had been in this kind of store before and expected that the two twelve-year-old boys would bleed to death quickly after taking a look around the place, but instead they merely looked puzzled - until they noticed a corset-like... thing on a mannequin, about which they spoke in horrified whispers, wondering why women would want to buy or wear such a thing and speculating how painful it would be if either of them tried it on.

Mokuren shrugged off her confusion. Honestly, she had the same reaction to that kind of clothing. Glancing around, she realized that Temari had disappeared into the changing room - why was there even a changing room in a place like this? - and she couldn't help facepalming. _Temari-sensei's such a weird person... how much time will we have to spend with her, anyway..._

"How does this look?" Temari asked, her voice annoyingly casual as she stepped out for a moment. The man at the register almost instantly passed out, and Mokuren had to stuff something up her nose very quickly to keep herself from following his example...

... but the boys only cried, "Don't walk around in your underwear!" and covered their eyes. Not even a drop of blood from their nostrils.

"I envy your naïvety." Mokuren told the boys solemnly, her voice distorted by her plugged nose.

"We're not naïve!"

"It was an honest compliment." Mokuren reassured Kentsu, not willing to look towards Temari at the moment but hoping that the tanned boy's yell hadn't registered as something they'd be disqualified for.

Luckily, Temari had already returned to the changing rooms and quickly dressed so that the four of them could escort the shopkeep to the hospital. They also checked Mokuren's nose, which had already stopped but had soaked through the paper clog and dripped a little on her shirt before ceasing.

"That was fun." Temari remarked.

Her true motive for going clothes shopping to start off with was more so that she could calm down rather than to test her students, but she was nonetheless pleased that they were so easily bored into compliance. That wouldn't work for anything above D-Rank, of course, so she'd have to provoke them a bit more. Temari didn't actually want to fail this team; they were brats, but most kids were. They would grow out of it eventually, she knew.

For the remainder of the day, she dragged her students through food markets and even to her former sensei's house for tea - leaving the three standing in the foyer for an hour almost led to several fights, although raising her voice while talking to Baki caused them to shut up immediately. Temari was definitely pleased with her new team's fear of her - whatever the cause - and decided to take them out for dinner.

Mokuren, of course, argued for Gyo Shokudou but Temari thought fish would be far too expensive and Mokuren unwillingly acknowledged that. Instead, they went to a sukiyaki restaurant near the Academy.

Looking over towards the cash register, Mokuren sighed. She was pretty sure the man scolding his employee was Maitsu's father, and wondered absently if he actually owned the place. Maitsu had never talked about her father - or anything about herself, really - but Mokuren knew from interactions with them that the two didn't get along and wanted to know why.

"What are you _staring_ at?" Kentsu asked irritably, interrupting the brunette's train of thought. Temari shot him a look and he bowed his head, returning sheepishly to his food. Mokuren did the same, giving up temporarily on that mystery.

Eating with her team was proving very awkward. Nobody really had anything to say and eating quietly seemed to frustrate Kentsu. Sighing, Temari decided to give conversation a try. "So, do you really like fish, Mokuren? Since you wanted to go to..."

"Mm. I love squid, especially. I won a squid-eating contest once." She added randomly.

"Kentsu got second place in one." Tetsuko offered, although his sulky teammate glared at him for it.

"Really? Where? Is there somewhere that hosts them often? The only one I'd ever heard of was at a party."

"I don't think so, sorry, Kentsu's was at one of Suikana's birthday parties a couple years ago."

"... Was he the guy who choked a little and someone came and hit him?"

Kentu groaned. "I lost that contest to _you?_ "

"Watch your tone." Temari reproved him. "The sun hasn't quite set yet, you know." After a few minutes of ringing silence, Temari tried again. "So what are your favorite foods, boys?"

"Falafel." Tetsuko answered, while Kentsu looked at her like she was crazy and repeated, " _Favorite?!_ "

Grimacing at the other boy, Tetsuko explained, "I don't think he really pays attention to what he puts in his mouth."

Mokuren sighed and rested her head on the table. "Too bad he's not the main character."

"...What?" Kentsu asked, confused and irritated.

"Main characters in manga about fighting tend to be boys with bottomless pits for stomachs who will eat absolutely anything. However, I'm the main character here."

"Like hell you are!"

"Language." Temari admonished, rolling her eyes at Mokuren's odd statement before glancing out the window to see the sun disappeared behind the cliffs.

* * *

_**End Note: Why a lingerie shop? I don't know. I really don't know. The best excuse I have is that Naruto was full of weird fanservice stuff and i wanted to mimic that style slightly, and hint at sexuality stuff, but that's pathetic. If you have suggestions for what to do instead there I'd really appreciate it, for now I'm leaving this chapter.** _


	3. Arc 1: Missions

**_Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Three, Missions_ **

"Sweeping is good for the soul!" The old lady informed the twelve year-old boy. "Besides, a stupid boy like you would not be able to handle a more difficult task as you are now."

Kentsu opened his mouth to argue further, but Mokuren cut him off, hissing, "She's a _client_!" Hopefully, he could still remember what that _meant_.

Kentsu's temper had been a definite problem over the last two weeks as Team Temari - with the obvious exception of Temari herself - struggled to complete D-Rank missions. Of course, Mokuren had been almost as much troubleas he had... but that was beside the point. And definitely no fault of hers.

... Alright, so she probably should have guessed that the people she'd begged into giving her volunteer work a few years back as part of her training might be upset to see her, since she had suddenly disappeared only a month ago. She could have guessed that they might be a bit irked to find her perfectly okay and part of a genin team they'd hired to temporarily replace her... but she _hadn't_.

Once she'd heard about this mess, Reiko made a point to hire their team for a day at Gyo Shokudou and chew her out, pretending that Mokuren hadn't explained herself to her father's old friend. Mokuren didn't appreciate the sadism... or the fact that whenever a client complained about her, Temari refused payment on her team's behalf. Just about any time that Temari wasn't looking, Mokuren's teammates did their best to make her pay for this.

Not in money, of course, because she didn't have any either... but anyway. Whoops.

The two boys were still rather weak, but they had improved greatly under Temari. Mokuren was generally asked to work by herself on a chakra control exercise - either attempting to walk up a wall or trying to manipulate the chakra of her father's sword (which she had finally been able to show her teacher after two sessions almost entirely focused on her teammates) because they needed all the attention they could get. She understood the need to bring them up to scratch before Team Temari was qualified for a C-Rank, in case something happened, but she still felt a little left out.

On this particular 'mission', they were cleaning up a mess caused by a sandstorm the day before. The protective walls around the village usually kept such storms from affecting anyone - but their client, Ran, lived in the small part of Sunagakure with less protection from such things. As a result, her floors and possessions were covered in a thick layer of sand.

Mokuren had delegated tasks to try and make this mission a success, but Kentsu - as usual - had a problem with his assignment. She didn't know whether he believed he was more graceful than he honestly was or if he was just arguing for the sake of arguing, but the client had been quick to tell him off. Luckily, Kentsu _did_ remember what 'client' meant, and sullenly stuck to his assigned job - getting the sand off the floor.

Mokuren used a small brush to remove sand from odd knicknacks and valuables, while Tetsuko set to work uncovering the kitchen. When the latter two were done, they set to work on the old lady's books. Ran practically owned a library, and she was very concerned about possible damage to her precious pages... and although Mokuren was fairly certain that sand couldn't harm them, she kept that to herself.

The mission took only a few hours to complete, although Ran spent almost a half hour scolding Kentsu for leaving streaks of sand along the floor. Temari laughed for quite a while about it, before leading her team back to the Kazekage Tower to see about taking a second mission for the day. Generally they'd all be gone by now, but apparently, Temari got a kick out of watching the bumbling respect the boys showed her brothers.

They were lucky, however - or unlucky, depending on who you asked. There was still one D-Rank left for today.

"You don't know this Karusuke person, right?" Tetsuko double-checked with Mokuren. He was quite frustrated with the lack of payment lately, but he was more forgiving.

"I don't think so." She shrugged. She'd never been very good with names, so she couldn't say for sure, but Mokuren hoped he wasn't someone she'd worked for.

As it turned out, he was. However, instead of being angry, Karuru - as he had introduced himself when they first met, when he was just fourteen years old and she was seven - apologized himself. Apparently, he had closed down his pottery business the same day she'd quit working for everyone, and had worried a little about where she'd get money. He was pleased to hear she'd become a genin.

Karuru was pretty strange, for a civilian. He'd inherited quite a lot of money from his great uncle and used it to pay for his strange and often-changing hobbies, which generally led to him buying out a business only to give it back a month later when he lost interest.

A lot of people viewed him as a spoiled brat, and he kind of was, but Mokuren liked the enthusiasm he put into whatever he did and couldn't help but imagine that her father would have gotten along well with Karuru. As far as this mission went, he had bought a greenhouse because of a sudden interest in gardening, but the workers quit after a disagreement about something Karuru wouldn't explain. Athough he'd been trying to maintain it by himself since then, things were beginning to die.

It only took an hour to remove all of the weeds Karuru hadn't noticed, and adjust the humidity and temperature to better suit the plants. He was delighted enough at the speed to pay extra. This was highly unnecessary, considering that he'd already been paying too much for a D-Rank mission, but Team Temari wasn't going to tell him that. Their sensei normally took them out to eat at some cheap diner for dinner if they'd gotten two missions in a day, but this time she agreed to go to Gyo Shokudou.

Mokuren was especially pleased by this treat. She'd made time to go in and visit Reiko every few days, of course, but she hadn't had enough money to buy something in ages.

However... sitting at the same table she and her father had always sat at, ordering the same food she always did... Mokuren couldn't help but tear up a little.

"What are you crying about?" Kentsu asked with a snort.

She blinked, and then stared at him with her eyes as wide as they would go. "What am I crying about? What do you think I'm crying about? Have you even tasted this food? It's heaven-sent!"

"I'll make sure to tell the cook." One of the waitresses, Anrei, chuckled as she walked by.

"Make sure you do!" Mokuren yelled after her. She took another bite, sighed deeply, and allowed a dreamy expression to form on her face. When she saw Kentsu and Tetsuko's incredulous looks, she tilted her head and frowned at them. "You two are so weird."

" _You're_ the weird one!"

* * *

_**End Note: I still like this chapter in its original form... how many edits has it survived, now? Three?** _


	4. Arc 1: Change In Nature

_**Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Four, Change in Nature** _

"Today, we're going to do something a bit different."

"If this is a paper test..." Tetsuko began apprehensively, looking at the small piece of paper Temari had just given him. After two months of working together, his teacher surely knew how he felt about schoolwork and tests. He still complained about them a few times a week, after all!

Temari smirked. "It's not exactly a normal paper test... don't worry, you _can't_ fail it."

"And the Titanic couldn't sink." Kentsu grumbled, examining the blank square.

Mokuren rolled her eyes at his theatrics. She wasn't entirely sure what the paper was for, but she wished Temari would just explain it already.

Having a session in which all three trained together was nice and all, but she doubted it would be very productive. Although the three genin got along better now than they had when they first became a team, Kentsu still had issues with a girl his age being stronger than him. Thanks to that, it was quite difficult for him to train if she was around because he seemed to think she was always laughing at him.

Mokuren actually had laughed the first couple of times, though, so, she supposed she was partially to blame for the paranoia. It was such a pity that Kentsu happened to be one of those people who became _worse_ at things when they were angry, despite Mokuren's occasional attempts to teach him how to use his anger as fuel rather than letting it blind him.

Or perhaps, in spite of those lessons. He refused to listen to most of what she said, actually, partially because she still called him Bishou and partially because his pride wouldn't allow him to do anything she asked easily.

Still, they really were getting closer. Although he was still a stubborn prideful idiot a lot of the time, in casual situations or even on missions, he sometimes smiled or joked or listened to information she offered.

In return, Mokuren made an effort not to voice every contradiction she heard in his statements. It was about the best she could manage.

As far as training went, though, the rift between the two generally had to be bridged by Tetsuko. The boy had a certain amount of pride as well, but he made much more of an effort to put up with Mokuren and quit trying to provoke Kentsu. At first, though, this had made things a bit worse with Kentsu feeling like he had to share the person who had almost always been his best friend and rival. It had taken quite a bit of work to convince Kentsu that he had to accept that change.

Actually, if Mokuren had to say that one person in particular was the worst at working with the others, it would be herself. The boys had improved, definitely, but she sometimes caught herself thinking that they were going to drag her down later. Whenever this happened, Mokuren reminded herself that becoming egotistical certainly wouldn't help her achieve her goals. They would improve more and more in the future to become people she could rely on, surely, and she had to work harder herself rather than be content with her current level.

"Pool your chakra in the hand that's holding the paper." Temari instructed, in the present moment.

"What if I'm holding it with both hands?" Tetsuko fretted. Mokuren's eye twitched, and she kind of wanted to hit him.

"Then take one hand away so that you can focus your chakra to the other hand." Temari spoke slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Um, okay, but how do I -" Tetsuko began to ask another question, but was interrupted as Kentsu suddenly yelped, dropped to the ground and rolling.

"What the - _what did you do_?" Temari asked, exasperated as she watched Kentsu.

"What you told me to!" He yelled back, still rolling. "It _lit._ Itself. On _. Fire_!"

"I think it's supposed to do that." Mokuren remarked, looking down at the half of her page that had suddenly torn away and fallen.

Temari nodded her agreement. "Yes - that's chakra paper, and -"

"You knew it would light me on fire and you didn't warn me first?!" Kentsu barked as he sprang up, the fire finally out, but at Temari's furious glare he closed his mouth tightly.

"I didn't know it would start on fire, no. This paper is designed to react to chakra in one of five ways, depending on the elemental affinity of the person who uses it. Apparently, your affinity is fire, and Mokuren's is wind. Tetsuko... why haven't you put chakra on your page yet?"

" _How_ do I put chakra on it?" He asked, taking a step back when Temari scowled at him.

"Set it on the ground and then pool chakra in your feet, like for the wall-climbing exercise. Carefully step on it after that." Mokuren intervened.

Tetsuko did as she'd suggested, and when the ball of his foot touched the page it split in two. "So I'm wind, too?"

"Yes." Temari nodded, still looking irritated.

After waiting a moment and hearing no more instruction, Mokuren couldn't help but ask, "So, are we going to learn techniques for our affinities now?"

"No, first you have to master the ability to change your chakra's nature. It takes a very long time to do so, and so I'd like the three of you to try and cut - or in Kentsu's case, burn - normal pages a few times a day. Normal chakra shouldn't have much of an effect, so you'll have to work out how to transform your chakra on your own in order to cut them. When you can manage to do so each time you try, then come and tell me. I'll then set you a new exercise, and only after _that's_ been mastered will we discuss techniques."

"But-"

"No." Temari stopped Kentsu. "No arguments. Just... practice that later. For now, we're going to spar."

"So, I should go work on..?"

Temari shook her head. "No, not this time, Mokuren. I want you and Kentsu to fight first."

"... you're kidding."

"I'm entirely serious."

Glancing at Kentsu, Mokuren noticed that he seemed frozen in place, a strange expression stuck on his face. "Well, let's get on with it then. How much do I need to hold back this time?" Mokuren asked teasingly. As expected, that snapped him out of his daze and angered him right away. He still didn't say anything, though, and just took his stance. She was a little impressed that he hadn't spoken - it suggested that he intended to prove himself with actions instead. For once.

Their last spar had been quite different. Kentsu had started out ranting and raving, and had gotten increasingly angrier as Mokuren easily avoided everything he tried without ever really attacking back. He eventually wore himself out and tripped over his own feet, hitting his head so hard he lost consciousness. Tetsuko hadn't been able to watch the humiliation, and even Temari had considered stopping it. The only thing Mokuren had liked about that fight was that Kentsu hadn't give up the moment he'd realized it was pointless... but then, that just seemed to be his pride in the way again.

Anyway, she had higher hopes for this fight. Even though he was clearly irritated by what she'd said, his chakra wasn't fluctuating like it often did; perhaps he'd finally gotten control of his temper.

When Temari asked them to start, he didn't immediately run at her like a bull in a ring. Deciding to take this more seriously, Mokuren didn't simply wait for him.

They clashed halfway, and although Mokuren sent him flying it had taken more effort than she'd expected, and he got back up quickly to try again. Mokuren couldn't help but be impressed by the amount of time Temari must have spent dealing with Kentsu in order to bring his skills up so quickly, and said so aloud; Kentsu took it as an insult.

The next time she tossed him out, she decided to try adding a twist or two to this little test and made a quick handsign.

On the sidelines, Tetsuko frowned. The ram seal could be used for a lot of different techniques, and if that was the only seal she had to form then this must be either a pathetic jutsu or something she had practiced with very often. This time, when Kentsu closed in, Mokuren moved much faster than before but dodged rather than hit or block any of his attacks. Kentsu didn't seem to have noticed the change, and just continued to punch and kick, pushing her back several feet, until he suddenly landed a hit. He stumbled back in surprise as Mokuren disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving a training post in her place.

"The heck?" Kentsu blurted out. 'Why kawarimi? It's a stupid E-rank jutsu...' Looking around, he realized that he couldn't see where Mokuren had gone off to. Actually, he couldn't remember a training post quite like this one anywhere around here... his train of thought was interrupted by a sharp yank on his ankle that caused him to fall face first to the sand. For a brief second, he panicked, trying to figure out why the zombie apocolapse was beginning here and now, in the middle of a fight, before he realized that it had just been his teammate.

Mokuren spat out the sediments she had accidentally inhaled when she reappeared underground and rubbed her eyes. It'd been rather lucky for her strategy that the training field Temari had picked was the same one she had used when she was younger, before it was buried during a freak sandstorm that had somehow made its way over the walls of Sunagakure no Sato.

As he scrambled onto his feet again, coughing, Kentsu felt frustrated. They were genin now, weren't they? Using E-rank jutsu was just lame, but he didn't know anything better. Why hadn't Temari taught them some jutsu? Instead she'd been focusing on taijutsu and although there had been a few chakra control exercises she'd never taught a single technique! And there was no way he could use illusionary bunshin or henge in a situation like this; it was amazing enough that Mokuren had managed to use kawarimi in a decent way. There weren't any hiding places or useful items on the blank field, and he knew that Mokuren had been given many private lessons - she probably already knew more advanced jutsu, and using kawarimi might have been her way of warning him that this wasn't going to be just taijutsu any more. What to do... while Kentsu pondered, Mokuren waited.

His eyes wandered over to Tetsuko and he suddenly remembered something his friend had looked into, once - he hadn't been able to pull it off at that time, and Kentsu wasn't very good with this sort of thing still... but he had to prove he'd gotten better, prove that he wasn't as pathetic as he'd been before.

The way his mother had neatly arranged the kunai in his weapons pouch made it easy to string them together the way he needed them. There were many things that could mess this up, Kentsu knew. The sand wasn't exactly solid but there were few other surfaces he could use... Deciding that he had to give this a try, definitely, but also quite certain this was a stupid idea, Kentsu closed his eyes before he threw them with all his might. To his surprise, it almost-sorta-if-you-tilted-your-head-the-right-way looked like he'd done it correctly. The nine spaces between the wires weren't square - like, at all - but they would suit the purpose, right?

"What's this supposed to do?" Mokuren asked, slightly interested. She hoped Kentsu actually had some sort of plan to go along with setting up wires, but experience suggested otherwise. After examining his work for a couple seconds, Kentsu leapt at her again. Avoiding getting tangled in the wire wasn't too big of a problem, although it was troublesome to have to worry about where she stepped or how she turned. Suddenly, she noticed a flash of light - it distracted her enough that her guard dropped, but she made the ram seal as his fist approached her face... and in a poof of smoke, a training post appeared.

Kentsu cursed. He'd really hoped that the invisible trip wire amongst the others would get her and he could beat her fair and square, but apparently she wasn't yet bored of kawarimi. He heard the sound of a technique activating and spun around to see five of Mokuren, two of which were smirking and three of which appeared tired.

He stumbled back, cutting the back of his feet slightly against a wire. _Are these kage bunshin?!_ Kentsu panicked internally. _No, she said that that required more chakra than a genin could use... and era-sou o sage wouldn't prove herself wrong..! Right?_

The clones took up weapons suddenly and threw them. Kentsu dodged instinctively, but three of them grazed him, and he was certain they had come from different clones. _The weapons are solid - then, they really are..!_ Taking steps back over the wire, he pressed his back against the training post and pulled out a kunai. Hopefully, he could knock away the next ones... but just as they were preparing themselves, smirks wider than ever on their faces, a gust of wind suddenly blew sand _through_ the clones. _They're illusionary?! But then, how -?_

A blade suddenly pressed itself to his throat, causing Kentsu to freeze. "I win." Mokuren declared from behind him, and then released him. He spun around to face her, confusion clear on his face. "It's kind of neat how the ram seal works for both kawarimi and henge, ne Bishou?" Too late, he saw that the training post she'd used earlier was still where she had left it back then.

"But - the clones..?"

"The kunai were on wires." She explained.

"Why didn't you use anything new?!" Kentsu demanded to know once he had accepted that. "Why did you bring ninjutsu into this at all?!"

"I overheard you tell Tetsuko that the jutsu we learned at the Academy were all useless and impractical, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to show you otherwise." Mokuren shrugged. "And as for why I used ninjutsu at all, I suppose I was getting bored of kicking and blocking and punching - I needed something to make the spar less... boring."

Being the person that he was, Kentsu somehow heard that explanation as: "I felt like proving you wrong and being a bossy know-it-all while I was at it, and anyway, I needed something to keep me from falling asleep because you're _so_ pathetic at fighting I was beginning to nod off." And that was completely unacceptable.

"I'm not pathetic!" He snarled, hands curling into fists.

"I didn't say you were. Calm down a little, will you? Spar's over, you'll get in trouble for fighting me now."

Kentsu seethed internally, and was too busy plotting his revenge inside of his head to hear when Temari told him to clean up the area. Rolling his eyes, Tetsuko set to the task instead. He was rather glad that his friend hadn't been humiliated again, but he also felt uneasy, somehow.


	5. Arc 1: Ramen Ichiraku

**_Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Five, Ramen Ichiraku_ **

Three months now, they'd been together. Still, the boys had yet to work out change in chakra nature and now that the three always trained together, Mokuren couldn't help but feel that she wasn't getting any stronger. They had almost completed the required forty D-ranks - just eight more, if Mokuren had counted them correctly, and they would be allowed a C-rank.

"We've done a million D-ranks already, give us a C-rank!" Kentsu whined. Apparently, he hadn't been keeping good count, because he'd been trying to insist they had forty already for the last few weeks.

Tetsuko scowled at his teammate. "We haven't done nearly enough to qualify yet, and anyway you should _speak-more-respectfully-he's-the-Kazekage!_ " He hissed out the last part through gritted teeth. He hadn't been counting either, Mokuren noted.

"But these missions are so boring! Why are they even called missions? Civilians could do this stuff easily! Heck, you could have _Academy students_ work on it instead of us." He continued to grumble, but paled suddenly when the Kazekage looked directly at him. Temari nearly snickered - it hadn't been all that long ago that the boy's voice had grated her ears. Somehow, though, she'd adjusted.

"You would like a mission that holds more meaning?"

"W-well, yeah."

Temari's amusement faded and she frowned at her brother. Her team still needed a couple more weeks' worth of D-ranks - he wasn't going to go ahead and give them a C-rank mission, was he?

"It's still a D-rank, but perhaps you would like this better." The Kazekage said, moving stacks of paper around. When he finally lifted a page, Temari could see the Hokage's sloppily written signature across the bottom. It looked a great deal more like a letter than a mission request, but her boys could see the signature as well and they were too stunned to pay attention to anything else.

"A request from the _Hokage_?" Tetsuko sputtered.

"No way!" Kentsu shouted, looking positively ecstatic. "What's the mission?!"

"Helping to set up a branch of Ramen Ichiraku in Sunagakure." Temari replied, taking the letter her brother offered.

Mokuren raised her eyebrows skeptically. "The Hokage himself made a request for ninja to help set up a ramen stand?"

"Don't say it like that! Don't you know, the Hokage _loves_ ramen!"

"Hey, hey! If he's requesting ninja than maybe it's his favorite restaurant!"

Mokuren watched disbelievingly as her teammates descended into giggling maniacs who seemed to think that they'd been given an insanely important mission that could damage the Suna-Konoha alliance if they screwed it up.

"The Hokage _isn't_ going to start the _Fifth Shinobi War_ over _RAMEN_." She finally snapped. Temari was snickering somewhere behind her, while Kankuro seemed to be choking. Even the Kazekage was smiling at the boys' insanity and Mokuren seemed to be the only one exasperated. Both boys pouted at her, though, and she felt a little guilty.

"Well, I mean, he obviously won't start a war but this is still really important!" Tetsuko insisted, still pouting.

"Yeah!" Kentsu backed him up.

"Are you his sidekick now?" Mokuren asked the salmon-haired boy irritably.

"Wha- no!" Kentsu yelled back, startled. "If anybody's a sidekick, it's him!"

"I'm not your sidekick!" Tetsuko wrinkled his nose at the very idea, and a fierce argument commenced.

An hour later found the three standing in front of an empty wooden building, one of the few standing in Suna. A brown-haired woman stood outside waiting for them.

"My name is Ayame. It's nice to meet you all." She introduced herself with a warm smile.

Mokuren smiled back. Temari had claimed she had something important she needed to work on and had left Mokuren in charge, so the brunette supposed that introducing the team was her job. "My name is Mokuren, and these two are Bishou," She gestured at Kentsu, "and Ringo." Mokuren then pointed at Tetsuko. "We're glad to meet you as well." She told Ayame, and frowned a moment later when she noticed that Kentsu was growling at her.

"They've got strange names, don't they?" Ayame giggled. "They're nice though, I suppose. So, if you're all ready to work..?"

"Of course, just tell us what to do!" Mokuren said brightly, and followed Ayame around the back of the building, leaving the annoyed boys behind.

"Why can't you call us by our real names?" Tetsuko demanded an hour later. He would have asked sooner, but Ayame had kept them busy moving boxes, unpacking supplies and now they were washing the pots, pans, and counters. Mokuren had spent much of that time chatting with Ayame while the two checked against a list to make sure nothing had been lost or forgotten during the trip.

"What do you mean?" Was Mokuren's innocent-sounding reply.

He scowled. "I _know_ that you know my name isn't Ringo. Don't look so confused, I've told you a million times! MY. NAME. IS. TE-"

"Ringo-kun, a boy should never raise his voice when speaking to a lady!" Ayame admonished him, evidently having ignored his words completely to focus on the volume. Mokuren couldn't help smirking at the fuming boy.

It was late afternoon by the time everything had been unpacked and cleaned. There wasn't any actual food in there right then, but everything else was ready for opening day. "Thank you all so much for your help." Ayame told them, and looked about ready to say her goodbyes when Kentsu suddenly blurted out,

"Is Ichiraku really the Hokage's favorite restaurant?"

Ayame's face split into a huge grin and she nodded. "You're fans of Naruto-kun's?"

Tetsuko stared. Ayame had used such a familar honorific. And she'd called his hero by his first name. " _How well do you know him?!_ "

"Well, Ichiraku has been his favorite restaurant ever since he was a little kid, and up until a few years ago the only people who worked there were my father and I. I'd say I know him pretty well." Ayame seemed to be enjoying the awestruck looks on Tetsuko and Kentsu's faces.

"Can you tell us something about him?" Mokuren asked hesitantly. She felt sort of stalkerish asking, but how many times in one's life did such an opportunity present itself?

Ayame indulged them, sitting them down and telling them stories from the Hokage's youth. She had so many things to tell them that the sky was definitely dark by the time Temari showed up to ask why they hadn't reported in yet. The most striking thing about the stories were that they contrasted with what Mokuren's father had told her about the great Uzumaki Naruto's battles and moving words of peace. In Ayame's stories, the Hokage had been an absolute brat, rude and brash and idiotic.

There were many times when Mokuren felt torn between covering her ears and yelling, "Blasphemy!" and leaning in closer to better hear the details. As Temari led them away, the boys were practically skipping. Mokuren fell back a little, unsure how she felt upon comparing Ayame's stories in more depth against her father's.

* * *

**_End Note: There's a line here I don't like, either, but I can't find a neutral statement._ **


	6. Arc 2: The Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new arc begins!

_**Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter One, The Well** _

 

"Aren't C-Ranks supposed to be better than D-Ranks?" Tetsuko dully complained. They had just arrived in the town the request had come from and dropped off the supplies they'd been asked to bring. Somehow, the town's well had dried up a couple of days previous and they were quick to ask Suna for help. Since there hadn't been any sightings of missing nin or bandits in the area, the Kazekage had sent Temari's team to investigate the dry well and give the people water, sealed safely away in scrolls.

Initially, Kentsu and Tetsuko had been absolutely thrilled. None of the genin had ever gone more than a mile past Suna's protective cliffs and they couldn't wait to see the world beyond. It took only an hour of sand dune after sand dune after sand dune after sand dune for their enthusiasm to wane, however.

When they arrived around dusk, they found that the town was equally as much of a buzzkill. Its buildings had been built of the same materials in the same style as in Suna, with the only real noticeable difference being how small this place was and its lack of cliffs. After turning the water over to the legal authorities - they weren't exactly ninja, but they were stronger than civilians, certainly - a tall and grumpy blonde led them to the town's well, where a couple of strangers helped to lower first Temari, then Mokuren, and finally the blonde woman.

 

The tunnel was completely dry, and at the bottom there was an intersection with a horizontal tunnel coated in cracked sand, the sort that one found right after a flash flood. "This was an ancient river that has flowed underground through this area for as long as anyone could remember. I don't believe it dried up naturally." She told them.

Temari nodded and followed her along the tunnel. It narrowed as they continued through, forcing them to leave their guide as they began to crawl. Eventually it became too small a gap and the two crawled backwards until they reached the blonde, who had waited impatiently and was very cross when they had no explanation to offer.

The town's leader hadn't expected them to find the problem immediately, however, and had made arrangements for the four of them. Tetsuko complained about the beds, but Kentsu was out the second his head hit the pillow.

The next morning the team mostly split up. Temari was going to hear more detail on how and when the water had disappeared and gave them the morning to themselves while she did so. Mokuren took the opportunity to explore.

Dressed in a long robe - one of Kentsu's, but he hadn't noticed the theft - she left her hitae-ate in the room she was sharing with Temari and headed out. After about an hour, she found a nice little restaurant. An elderly lady waved her towards a table, too busy writing something on the counter to even look up.

Mokuren consequently seated herself and thought for a moment about what she wanted, but was soon enough interrupted by the shattering of a glass. She leapt up to see that the old lady was staring at her, ashen-faced.

"Mei?" She croaked, and tears began to slide along the wrinkle lines on her face.

Mokuren relaxed her stance, but continued to watch the woman warily. "My name isn't Mei."

The woman's eyes widened and she hurriedly wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." She whispered. "You just... You look like someone I used to know."

Mokuren noted the past tense. "I'm sorry to bring up something you're uncomfortable remembering. I can leave..." She spoke sincerely enough. Briefly she imagined running into a lookalike of her father and her chest constricted painfully.

"No, its fine. You're fine. It was just a shock." She explained, her voice quivering slightly, and the subject was dropped. The woman still seemed to be avoiding looking at her when Mokuren paid the bill for her meal.

As she stepped out onto the street, she could hear arguing nearby. Curious, she closed in on the voices until they were just around the corner.

"But I just don't have that kind of money!" A woman was protesting.

There was a snort."I'm not lowering the price just because you can't afford it."

"But, my children..!?"

"Do you know how many times I've heard that today? It's annoying! If you want your children to live, then find a way to get that money for them!"

"A-alright..."

That certainly sounded suspicious. When the woman made to pass an alleyway two minutes later, Mokuren pulled her in for a chat.

 

On the other side of town, people grouped along the side of a street, nervously watching the two boys bearing Sunagakure no Sato hitae-ate.

"If they learn about Dorin-sama's..."

" -gakure might ban us from using it?!"

"They're just children..."

"Don't look them in the eyes..."

Kentsu and Tetsuko heard none of these whispers. They'd worn their forehead protectors because it hadn't occurred to them not to - why wouldn't they, after all? They had no idea that they would interfere with their plans for the day; namely, trying to find out who would want to dry the well and why.

"Where should we look first?" Kentsu mused.

"We've been going nowhere?!" Tetsuko asked, exasperated. They'd been walking for ten minutes already. "I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"

"I will know, once we've gotten a lead!" Kentsu insisted. "So you're in charge of that part."

"I thought you had a lead already!"

"How about that alley?" Kentsu asked with a frown, pointing it out.

"Don't ignore me!" Tetsuko squawked at him, flapping his arms for added effect. They searched various alleyways and places, not really sure what they were even looking for, until they were both very hungry. At that point they gave up - temporarily! - to look for lunch instead. They noticed a very busy restaurant and approached it, but the man at the door turned them away, saying apologetically, "The restaurant will close in fifteen minutes. There would not be enough time for you to finish a meal."

"What?" Kentsu asked disbelievingly. He could clearly see on the doors what the closing times were and he was absolutely certain that it was nowhere near that time yet.

Noticing where the boy's black eyes had wandered to, the man by the door gulped audibly. "Ah, today's a holiday, so we close earlier for it."

"Today's not a-"

"Yes it is." Tetsuko whispered. "Today's the Daimyo's birthday."

Kentsu made a face, kicked sand at the man by the door - who was an absolutely awful liar! - and then walked off to find a nicer place. When he thought he'd found one, a pale, sweating boy around their age moved in his way and claimed with a shaky voice that the restaurant was completely full and reserved for the next couple of hours. When Kentsu confronted this boy about the Daimyo's birthday, the boy burst into tears, sobbing angrily about straws or something, and Tetsuko dragged Kentsu away hurriedly before he could cause a bigger scene.

"We don't really need food, do we?" The black-haired boy said weakly, his stomach growling fiercely. The sound was barely quieter despite the hands applying pressure on it.

Kentsu gave him an exasperated look. "We need to try somewhere smaller." He decided, and after the third time someone turned them away after they'd walked in, they finally found one that would give them food. Just in time, too, because Tetsuko was nearly crawling by this point. The food was burnt and the old lady in charge glared at them throughout the meal, but they were too relieved to care. They began their search again, fervor restored.

After a few minutes, Tetsuko suddenly stopped and pressed himself against a wall beside an alleyway. "There's someone with a bunch of barrels." He whispered as an explanation. Kentsu nodded.

"You got the money?" A boy's voice asked.

"Y-yes, right here..."

"None of this is fake? You're not a setup from those shinobi I saw walking around today?"

"No! Of course not!" The woman's voice denied, still sounding fearful.

"Alright then. This amount of money will get you a couple barrels of water. How did you manage to -?"

At the word 'water', Kentsu ran around the corner, ignoring Tetsuko's warning as he kicked the strange teen into a wall. The teenager's cropped hair was brown, and his eyes were a surprising light blue. He was fairly tall but thin, with skin just a little lighter than Kentsu's own, and he coughed up a few drops of blood as he tried to get up. Kentsu pinned him down. "Where did you get this water?" He demanded.

"Please, let go of me!" The brunet begged, wriggling around like a fish.

"Where?" Kentsu repeated.

"The man I work for, Dorin-sama, he keeps a hundred full barrels at his estate for times like these." The explanation was hurried, and terrified. Unnoticed by either, the woman standing off to the side smiled dreamily and clapped once.

"Why are you selling them, then?" Tetsuko asked, feeling slightly disgruntled.

"The town needed water, too!" He explained.

"Then shouldn't you have given away the water for free?" Kentsu argued.

The teenager's eyes teared up. "I'm going to get fired for this." The boys assumed he meant selling the water. "Obaachan relies on me... I need to have some way of paying for food, for the two of us."

After a quick shared glance with Tetsuko, Kentsu asked, "What's your name?"

"Eiro." Was the answer.

Kentsu backed away, stood up and offered a hand. "Sorry about hurting you, I thought you might have been the guy who drained the well."

"Forgive me... you were _right_." Eiro said in return, forming a one-handed seal as Kentsu helped him up.

"... huh?"

And in a blink, Kentsu's back was against a wall, his wrists trapped by cuffs made of rock and a kunai at his throat. "If you move an inch, I'll kill him." The brunet told Tetsuko. He seemed emotionless now. "How many of you are -" He was interrupted when he suddenly flew sideways, towards Tetsuko. The woman who'd hit him disappeared in a poof of smoke, replaced by a familiar figure who walked forward and lifted Eiro a few inches by his lapel.

"Would you like to tell me the real truth?" Mokuren yawned, using her free hand to cover her mouth. When the boy merely squawked incoherently, she shrugged and dropped him, hitting the base of his neck quickly before throwing his unconscious body over her shoulder. She walked out of the alleyway and then turned, frowning at her teammates. "Are you two coming or not?"

"I'm stuck to a wall!" Kentsu barked at her.

She sighed and shook her head before walking back and making a couple hand signs as she positioned herself by the wall. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" She declared, and a gust of wind snapped the cuffs and smacked Kentsu into a wall. Turning to her other teammate, Mokuren said, "Can you carry him? My hands are full."

"I don't need carrying!" Kentsu argued, trying to pull himself back up. Tetsuko rolled his eyes and walked over to help.

 

Temari was smiling strangely when she re-entered the room. Her team stood up, eager to hear what she'd learned. It had been almost an hour since Mokuren had dropped Eiro in front of her sensei and she'd taken him for questioning. "This guy is a nukenin." She began. "A Doton user who quit because the chunin exams were too hard, apparently. He's from one of the minor ninja villages and was paid by the local lord, Dorin, to redirect the local well onto his property and help sell the water to villagers because he is convinced they are refusing higher taxes while hiding fortunes from him and... mocking him, somehow? Dorin sounds a bit paranoid, really." Temari sighed, moving a stray hair away from her eyes. "However, as far as the Doton user knows, Dorin has not hired any other ninja. I'm going to go over by myself and arrest him, you should repack anything you've unpacked and pay anyone you've robbed." She dismissed them, walking off.

"Why does she think we've stolen things?"

Mokuren figured this wouldn't be the best time to mention her new earrings. "Temari-sensei didn't get much sleep last night, so she's a bit off."

"Did she find a spider?"

"No, she found a pea."

They looked at her blankly. Mokuren sighed. "Did you never read fairy tales?"

"What do fairy tales have to do with anything!?" Kentsu snapped, annoyed with Mokuren's roundabout ways.

They split to complete the tasks asked of them, and upon Temari's return, the four headed out.

Mokuren stretched, popping her back. Tetsuko wrinkled his nose in annoyance. "It's nice to be out amidst sand again, isn't it, boys?"

"No." They chorused - all three of them, because Mokuren knew they'd say that.

"Jinx, you owe me a day without complaints." She smirked.

They glared at her in reply, but Temari at least found it amusing. Her chortling stopped suddenly though, and the two girls instantly dropped into stances.

"What's going on?" Tetsuko asked immediately, while Kentsu copied the girls and began looking around nervously.

"Fifteen." Temari muttered. "That noise..."

"Will someone tell me -!?"

"We're surrounded." Mokuren told him. The bandits came all at once, although Temari was able to blow them away before they reached any of them.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Temari activated the summoning technique and a large white weasel appeared. Mokuren knew him to be Kamatari, but her teammates had not met the summon before. This attack was not as a wave, and this time even with Kamatari a few of bandits made it to the genin. Mokuren kicked one away and barely managed to block a kunai from reaching Kentsu, who was fighting the third bandit. Tetsuko stood frozen, and Mokuren exasperatedly chucked a kunai by his foot. It snapped him out of it, but she still needed to interfere twice more while he fought.

Because of the situation, none of them realized until it was a little late that a roaring sound had slowly built up all the while. The moment the cause of the sound became visible, the bandits pulled away. Mokuren's eyes followed theirs; seeing the cloud of yellow growing on the horizon... she froze.

* * *

_**End Note: I remember there was confusion about the pea thing, probably should address it. Temari isn't actually so frail as to be bothered by a pea, of course. She's a very strong ninja of the Sand. But Mokuren thinks that Temari acts a little high and mighty, and that's why. Mokuren makes up a lot of stories, honestly. I keep forgetting that the perspective forces readers to take her words seriously.** _


	7. Arc 2: On Our Own

_**Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Two, On Our Own** _

Temari barked an order, and although Mokuren couldn't hear what exactly it was it brought her back.

There wasn't any time to hide; Mokuren threw her arms around Kentsu and Tetsuko and held them together, hoping to keep the wind and sand from pulling them apart.

"Keep your eyes and mouths closed!" She ordered, but she wasn't sure either of them heard her. When the wave of sand hit, she thought she heard Temari cry out and sensed her chakra signature getting farther and farther away. Every inch of exposed skin - on Mokuren's face, neck, arms, and ankles - felt like it was on fire. Desperately ignoring the pain, she tightened her grip on the boys and tried to focus chakra to her skin in order to strengthen it.

She'd heard stories of people who had been flayed by sandstorms and bled to death - doing her best to keep chakra around her skin, Mokuren tried to mentally step away from the situation and the pain. _This can't last too long... can it? How long do sandstorms last, anyway?_ She didn't know, though. The sand whipping around her was incredibly loud but not particularly distracting. _Ringo and Bishou always wear heavy clothing, why don't I do that? Sure this outfit is easier to fight in, but the sand's shredding it like rice paper. I hope they can breathe okay._

Her thoughts were scattered, but she couldn't disassociate herself. Her lungs were beginning to burn with all of the sand forcing its way through her nose with every breathe she took. She took much of the chakra protecting her skin and redirected it to try and reinforce her lungs.

She couldn't tell if it had been a year or half an hour, but eventually the force at her back faded away. Sand began to fall after hitting her, quickly forming a pile. By the time it finally stopped, she was up to her waist in sand.

Mokuren couldn't gather up enough strength to try and push her way out - instead, once she'd decided the worst was definitely over, she released her teammates and fell back, pushing the pile out behind her like a cushion.

It wasn't comfortable at all, and her body was still aflame, but she couldn't be bothered to care.

After blinking away sand and salty tears, she could see what she supposed must be her arms. They were vividly red, spreading their color around the sand on which they lay.

The boys had fallen, too, but their figures were so blurry and her head was pounding and her ears still ringing and she just couldn't tell if they were alright or not until she closed her eyes again and felt for their chakra. Their reserves were considerably lower than normal, but definitely still present...

When next she woke, it took her a minute to recall and another to understand what had happened.

Everything still burned and ached and she could barely breathe, and she could feel dried trails of sandy snot across her face.

Tetsuko was sitting nearby, and Kentsu was perhaps twenty feet away. They both seemed pretty well off... Her own chakra reserves had refilled as well; just how long had she been out?

Not long enough, apparently, because when she tried to bring her hand up to wipe away whatever was keeping her from opening her eyes her arm didn't so much as twitch. When she tried to clear her throat to talk, the sudden wave of pain was enough to knock her unconscious.

When she woke again, she was a little better off.

Her arm moved and her eyes opened, anyway, but she couldn't sit up or move her legs. It was very dark, and she realized that she was in a tent. _But all of our supplies were with Temari..._ She frowned mentally, but filed that mystery away for later. "Ringo?" She rasped.

"You're awake!" The boy exclaimed in response sounding tearful, waking up Kentsu.

"Are you sure she isn't just coughing again?" He mumbled, but the hopefulness in his voice contradicted his words.

"Awake." She answered, and then suddenly coughed. It hurt like hell, and she thought she could see dark spots on the ground beside her. "Clean... nose?" She tried to ask, confused when she realized that the snotty trails she'd felt before weren't there.

"Told you she'd appreciate it." Tetsuko laughed, but it sounded like he was still crying.

"It was still _gross_." Kentsu replied, sounding much more relieved than disgusted.

"Clothes?" Mokuren interrupted their argument to check.

"We didn't look or anything!" Tetsuko immediately defended himself. If she hadn't been sure it would hurt, she would have laughed at him.

"Kay." She said instead. "Night." Giving up on the struggle to say awake, she let her eyesight fill with purple snow. Mokuren could vaguely heard Kentsu's voice, but she couldn't make out the words.

Waking was _much_ easier the third time around.

It probably helped that she could sense a chakra signature not too far away that felt absolutely nothing like anyone she knew, _right_ -right next to Tetsuko and a few feet away from Kentsu, and instinctively jumped up and reached for a kunai.

The pain caused her to stagger, but she didn't fall, and was a little more annoyed about the fact she was wearing only her underwear with her weapons pouch nowhere in sight.

Her boys didn't seem to be fighting the stranger, but Kentsu's chakra was fluctuating angrily; not the sort of angry he got about losing payment for a mission or seeing Mokuren spar, it was on a much higher level than that.

Grabbing two kunai from Kentsu's pack, Mokuren wobbled out of the tent. The stranger was holding a blade to Tetsuko's throat and seemed to be trying to convince Kentsu to drop - wait, was that _her father's sword?!_

"What the hell, moron!" She shrieked, startling the stranger enough that he dropped Tetsuko and spun around to face her. Although she wasn't quite aware of it then, she was quite a sight and the strange man was too surprised to even try and dodge the blade that lodged itself in his throat.

Mokuren didn't pay any mind, however, instead running at Kentsu. She was dizzy, numb, confused and not exactly sane - or at least, that's what she would tell herself later.

"Gimme that!" She whined, reaching for the sword. Kentsu pulled away, looking concerned and frightened, and so Mokuren grasped the blade, not even seeming to feel her palm being sliced.

Kentsu stared in horror at the blood dripping off her hands. "D-don't hold that side!" He yelped.

"Then gimme your side!"

"Let go and I will!" He yelled back, looking panicky.

Mokuren froze suddenly, released the sword and spun around, barely avoiding have her upper arm sliced. After a moment she frowned over her shoulder. "What was yer face like that fer? There's nobody there!"

"Uh, sorry?" Kentsu said lamely, the sword falling out of his shaking hands. His eyes then slid to Tetsuko and the dead man he was frantically crawling away from.

"Ringo's okay right?" She asked, watching too. "How'd he get caught like that, anyway!" Mokuren complained, stumbling towards the black-haired boy.

Ignoring the fact that he seemed even more terrified of her then of the dead man, she pulled him to his feet and dragged him into the tent.

He had numerous bruises, she noticed. "So ya did try 'n get away, good... Oi, Bishou, whadda we got? Like, supplies?"

"Five more meals... we ran out of water this morning." Kentsu answered, looking worriedly between her and Tetsuko, who still seemed to be trying to escape from Mokuren.

"You okay, Bishou? Answerin' without arguin' or nothin'... Eh, whatever. I'm sure yer fine. Where's otou-tan's sword? Oh, yeah, dropped. You get it? I get it, yeah..." She grew less and less coherent as she went on, but still made it out of the tent and came back with her sword. She returned it to its sheath clumsily.

Mumbling about Kentsu's inconsideration and stupidity, she then curled up in a corner and slept.

The fourth time she woke up could well be considered the worst.

Mokuren had only slept for two hours, but it was enough for her mind to clear itself and regain sanity enough to understand what she'd done.

"I'm a _killer_." She hadn't meant for the realization to leave her mouth, but she knew it had because Kentsu inhaled sharply.

Turning to stare at him, Mokuren whispered, "Did I... really... am I? Oh _god._.." A wave of nausea hit her as she reviewed her memories, and she practically leapt out of the tent as acidic bile raced up her throat.

As she began to hyperventilate and choke on her puke, she felt someone begin to rub her back, and was a little confused to sense that it was Tetsuko. She could remember the horrified look on his face, only hours ago...

But now he seemed quite calm, and was saying things like, "You're not a killer, you were just protecting me..." and, "Shhh, it's alright, you weren't really _you_..." Which were a little contradictory but nonetheless soothing.

Once she had recovered enough to talk, she blurted out her question - somehow, it turned into a statement en route. "You were scared of me, earlier."

"You looked like a demonic crab." He answered, surprising a shaky laugh out of her.

"So... you don't..?" But she couldn't bring herself to ask.

"I don't what?" Tetsuko's voice was still soft. Mokuren just shook her head.

After a moment of comfortable silence, she heard Kentsu settle in on her other side and then take one of her hands.

"Thank you." He murmured, his voice containing so many emotions Mokuren couldn't pick any specific one out. She shook her head again, refusing the gratitude. She'd killed someone other than that person, she'd _broken_ her _promise_...

"Hey, can you put on clothes now? This is kind of awkward." Kentsu suddenly said. He sounded much more normal now, and so Mokuren nodded.

After pulling herself together and wiping as much of the puke as she could off with the rags that remained of her old outfit, she put on Kentsu's long coat and then set to piecing together the information the two boys gave her.

They weren't entirely sure how long they'd slept right after the sandstorm, but two weeks had passed since then. This recent attack had been the third on their little camp - the first two had also been just one person attacking them each time, although they were pretty sure the person Mokuren killed had been the first attacker back again trying to retrieve the supplies they'd stolen from him before - which confirmed what she'd thought a day or two ago, that everything they hadn't been holding had been blown away with Temari.

As far as the storm itself went, the boys hadn't been injured much.

She'd stood in the way of the storm and kept much of the sand from hitting them, and they had kept their hands over their mouths and noses so that very little sand entered their lungs, and besides which their clothes were well-made for the conditions and had protected them greatly.

Mokuren, however, had used her arms to keep the three together and had inhaled quite a lot. Her clothes were thin and didn't cover much, and over the first few days the boys were absolutely convinced that she was going to die right in front of their eyes. She had almost choked to death on her own blood once.

They had taken pretty good care of her, all things considered. They'd kept her hydrated and alive, and she could move around now.

She wasn't fully healed by any means, but Mokuren seemed to be well enough to fight minor enemies. As she set to work straightening up the camp and deciding what they should do next, Mokuren couldn't help but hope that Temari would come for them soon.

* * *

_**End Note: This chapter... It just moved so quickly, was there even time to get into it? I'm really sorry about that.** _


	8. Arc 2: Captured

_**Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Three, Captured** _

Three hours.

Kentsu shook his head disbelievingly. He and Tetsuko had searched desperately for people and water throughout the first couple days and had such difficulty obtaining it... but it took Mokuren a mere three hours of looking to locate a camp, probably even the camp the bandit she'd killed earlier was from.

She then snuck in - by herself, still injured! - and stole several pairs of clothing and enough scrolls of water to last the team a week even if they drank like crazy.

Don't get him wrong, Kentsu was really grateful.

He'd been pretty sure even as he struggled to live during the last two weeks that all of their efforts would be for nothing - that Mokuren would bleed to death and he and Tetsuko would soon dehydrate, and they'd all three end up buried by sand for a thousand years and then be found all mummified at which point someone would reanimate them to start the zombie apocalypse all over again... and instead, they were going to be fine.

He wasn't disappointed. Not at all - really! And he wasn't feeling inferior or useless, either; never mind that Tetsuko had been obeying Mokuren's recent commands to the letter and getting much more done than Kentsu was because the salmon-haired boy still felt the need to protest even though it was clear that Mokuren knew what she was doing.

In a way, he did it to deny the part of him that occasionally thought of what she'd done earlier and felt afraid.

Tetsuko had been frightened when Mokuren had appeared suddenly to save him, and had killed that man... but he had been so much more horrified about her initial reaction - the way she acted as if the life that had just ended was meaningless.

In the two hours that she had slept right afterwards, Tetsuko couldn't bring himself to move.

He stayed where Mokuren had left him, crying silently and wondering what sort of person could just not care. The man had been about to kill him, yes; but Mokuren could have just knocked him out! He'd thought to himself that if that's what it meant - being a shinobi - killing people without any remorse at all... then he would be quitting the second he got back to Suna - if he _ever_ got back to Suna.

Seeing the look of pure self-loathing on her face when she woke up, and the fact that the guilt was enough to make her physically sick... somehow, that cleared away his doubts.

Killing without remorse wasn't possible, even for Mokuren, and as awful as he'd felt she was obviously much worse off. After she wiped away the tears and the puke, her expression had again hardened and then she proved that she was still bossy, still strong, still determined, still Mokuren.

Throughout the last couple of weeks Tetsuko had been stressed all of the time, scared by the attacks and had felt so hopeless and useless whenever he had looked at her lying half-dead.

He'd barely been able to keep going by telling himself that Mokuren would be okay, and that he would be able to thank her.

He knew that she wouldn't have been injured any where near as badly if she hadn't kept them together when the wind tried to throw them apart, and if she hadn't blocked much of the sand with her back her clothes would have certainly fared better.

Tetsuko didn't know if she'd unconsciously protected them or if she had done it for her own sake later on, or maybe even because she cared, and he'd probably never be able to ask her.

It didn't really matter in the end - he owed her so much, he doubted he would ever be able to pay her back in full.

Even though she had been acting rather coldly since their group hug had ended, Tetsuko was still happy to do whatever she told him to.

Neither boy had paid much attention to survival lessons back in the Academy - Kentsu distinctly recalled yelling that he was strong enough he didn't need such dumb lessons. Inoue had scolded him and explained the importance but as always, he'd tuned her out... so listening to Mokuren was about the only option at the moment, although Kentsu had a sneaking suspicion that the brunette was playing this by ear.

For a couple of days, their lives were much easier than before. And then in the middle of the noon meal, Mokuren suddenly swore and jumped up, abandoning her food and hurrying to start sealing the water back into scrolls.

It cost less chakra to pull them out than it did to put them back in, and Mokuren's chakra stores hadn't recovered still.

"Pack up everything, now." She ordered, rushing to grab her own things. Neither boy questioned her, although Kentsu hurried through the rest of his lunch before he started packing.

They had the camp cleaned up within ten minutes and Mokuren spent an additional three removing any evidence of their campsite, including hesitantly covering up the mark she had placed over where she buried the body in sand.

They ran, two-thirds unaware of the reason for what felt to Kentsu like hours.

The pace Mokuren set was slow enough for them to keep up but fast enough that they had no breath to spare. When they finally stopped and Mokuren began to set things back up in quite as much of a hurry as she had packed them away, Kentsu was able to ask, "Why'd we move?"

"Bandits. They found my trail." She sounded distinctly annoyed, probably at herself. "We shouldn't really stop now, but the two of you look exhausted. Why aren't I a Doton user? Then maybe I could hide us underground, in the bedrock below the sand and they probably wouldn't be able to find us. That would be so much more _useful_."

Her voice had gotten quieter as she went on, and Kentsu frowned to himself. He'd never heard Mokuren tell herself off like this or put herself down, and he really didn't like it as much as he'd have expected.

"We're not so tired that we can sleep knowing a bunch of guys are after us!" Tetsuko protested, sliding past the rest of what she'd said.

If he focused on it, he would become discouraged.

"Just tired enough to be useless in a fight." Mokuren retorted, and in an icy voice continued with, "If you don't think you can fall asleep naturally, I can knock you out."

Kentsu's eyes widened in surprise. Mokuren was acting so out of character and he didn't really want to understand why, but pride dictated his words nonetheless. "Ha, like you could, you're -"

Tetsuko wasn't sure whether to be scared or relieved when Mokuren easily laid his frenemy out and began to tuck him into his sleeping bag.

"Do I need to help you, too?" She asked, the cold gone from her voice. She just sounded tired now. Tetsuko shook his head hurriedly and crawled into his own bag. "I'm going to keep watch for a few hours. When I'm too tired to keep my eyes open I'll wake you up and you'll watch for a few hours. Then it'll be his turn." Mokuren explained before stepping back out of the tent.

Tetsuko had a short but confusing dream in which Temari found them but declared that they couldn't return home until they could beat Kankurou in a comedy competition, and the dream ended with the crowd in the restaurant the competition was taking place in chucking apples at him, bruising his right arm and shoulder...

"...maybe I should just wake Kentsu up." Mokuren's voice finally cut through and obliterated the dream.

"No, 'm up." Tetsuko chimed, sluggishly sitting up.

"Oh, good. Now go sit out there - if you see or hear anything but sand and the wind, wake me _immediately_." She stressed the final word as she shuffled around in her bag.

"I will... what's that?" He asked, confused. It sort of looked like she was holding a medicine bottle.

"Sleeping pills. They're nothing serious, you'll still be able to wake me easily enough."

Tetsuko nodded, still eyeing the bottle uncertainly. He didn't recall seeing it among their things or among their recent spoils.

Mokuren took three before curling up in her sleeping bag.

The black-haired boy spent his watch nervously watching the horizons and jumping when the wind made any sort of noise. Eventually he realized he was nodding off and went in to wake Kentsu.

Disoriented and more than a little confused, Kentsu left the tent and peered around. Mostly for zombies. Surely, being out in the wilderness at night with no moon meant he would get to see zombies! But he just wasn't seeing any.

Kentsu wasn't even sure why he wanted zombies to be real. Undead things were supposed to be creepy, right? But he'd heard so many stories about the people brought back to life by edo tensei during the Fourth Great Shinobi War while he was growing up and he'd always been curious.

"Alright there, boy?" An unfamiliar voice asked with a hint of a sneer.

Kentsu frowned over at the man, wondering where he'd come from. He was about a foot taller than himself, with brown hair and black eyes. His clothes looked shinobi-like but he didn't have anything marked with the symbol of a hidden village.

"No. 'M tired." Kentsu grumbled back to him. This answer briefly surprised the man.

"Is that so? Well then, let's do this the easy way and let you nap a bit, after you give us back the water you stole."

 _Easy way, easy way, easy way..._ the phrase rang around Kentsu's head, setting off the alarm. His heart jumped into his throat as he remembered the last time he'd heard that phrase, when it came from another stranger.

That stranger had said it while holding Tetsuko hostage.

With the fog of sleep gone from his mind, Kentsu pulled out a kunai - or tried to, at least. The man was way ahead of him and took the knife, pinning Kentsu to the ground with it by his sleeve.

"You're a pretty cute kid. Kinda dumb, but some would say that's extra adorab -" The man's weird rant was cut short by a sudden fist to his face. Kentsu didn't really have to wonder whose fist it was because as the man was flung back Mokuren followed, taking his arm and breaking it. He cried out, and she snorted in response.

"A ninja shouldn't react to pain so loudly." Mokuren remarked, but then paled and spun around, throwing shuriken towards the new enemies.

"You are never taking watch again." She informed Kentsu as she stepped closer to him, eyeing the six new people circling around them.

One stuck out - a woman with blonde hair rather than the brown her male companions had. Her expression was also different - she was staring at Mokuren like she was some kind of ghost, and seemed not to have noticed the shuriken lodged in her arm. The other two looked angry, and were holding a sword and a hammer, respectively. "Alright, there?" Mokuren asked the other girl, who jumped back, startled.

"Ayano-chan?" The first guy croaked, having moved so that he could see.

"Hm? Ah!" The girl pulled the shuriken out of her arm, having finally noticed it.

"That's a much better reaction." Mokuren couldn't help saying, despite the situation. Ayano refocused her eyes on Mokuren, anger and uncertainty swimming around in that forest green.

Biting her lip, she ordered her group, "Check if there's anyone in the tent."

Internally, Kentsu swore. Tetsuko was still asleep, he knew - the black-haired ninja was a rather deep sleeper. He felt very conflicted as one woman edged towards the tent before slicing it open... to reveal nobody.

Kentsu glanced at Mokuren, who looked amused but not at all startled and tried to school his expression to hide his own surprise.

He wondered where Tetsuko had gone - Kentsu couldn't see any hiding places in the area. Had Mokuren set something up?

"How many sleeping bags are there? There's got to be someone else - Suna nin never travel in groups less than three." Ayano spoke tightly, watching the two in the middle of the circle.

"Just two."

"Is all of the water there?"

Mokuren's slight smirk turned into a frown as the man answered in the negative.

"Sorry, I'll be back soon." She whispered quietly enough that only Kentsu could hear and then leapt suddenly towards the blonde.

Only two of them tried to attack her - the others just sort of blinked. When the first attack hit, she disappeared in a poof of smoke and a sleeping bag fell in her place.

All five bandits spun to look at the tent, where they supposed she had kawarimi'd to - and she hadn't.

Only Ayano thought to try and take Kentsu prisoner to force Mokuren out of hiding, but Tetsuko dropped down on her from the sky as she tried.

While Tetsuko fought her, Kentsu had a complete 'WTF?!' moment, in which he started waving his arms around while watching the sky. He only snapped out of it when someone grabbed him from behind, and of course that was rather late... but the man behind him was rather inept and Kentsu managed to break his grip easily enough.

A sudden explosion took out two of the bandits - probably a trap Mokuren had set up very recently, because she hadn't warned Kentsu about it.

He was very nearly knocked out because he'd frozen out of surprise, but the woman he was fighting was pretty slow even though she was physically stronger. It was kind of weird, being the faster one in a fight.

It wasn't at all what Kentsu was used to, but he felt he was doing pretty well anyway.

Tetsuko was struggling.

This Aya-whomever was stronger than he was, definitely, and he was barely evading her attacks at this point. To begin with they'd been on equal footing - she was injured and easily distracted while Tetsuko was quite focused, despite having woken up less than ten minutes prior.

Mokuren had gotten him up, actually, and sliced a line along the bottom of the tent to create an escape route through the sand. He'd dug out a space, wet the sand so it would hold better, sewn the floor back together over him and waited awkwardly with his sleeping bag until Mokuren replaced it.

There wasn't a whole lot of space down there and they had a near-miss with sharing an arm, but once that was sorted out, Mokuren dug her way off to plant bombs while Tetsuko crawled back up to the surface.

He quickly formed the seals for kawarimi, threw one kunai as far up as he could and stabbed his hand with another.

Falling through the air felt very weird; the force of the air pushed his hair back forcefully and nearly knocked off his hitae-ate, but it wasn't as much trouble as he'd have expected to direct himself towards the girl attacking his friend.

Knocking her down and scaring Kentsu was actually really fun. He hoped he could make an entrance like that again someday.

Kentsu finally managed a lucky punch that sent his opponent flying. Not nearly as far as Kentsu had hoped, but enough that he could leap after and knock her out without too much trouble.

His hands freed up, he butted into Mokuren's fight, taking one of her three opponents. She had just broken one of her opponent's arms and kicked the other in the balls, and seemed a little annoyed by his interference.

"Tetsuko looks like he could actually use some help." Mokuren sneered at him.

"He can handle a dumb girl by himself." Kentsu said confidently.

Mokuren glanced over to see that Tetsuko was sweating like a dog while Ayano smirked as she fought him and sighed. 

"You take this one, too." She called, tripping up an opponent and shoving him towards Kentsu. Focusing on the one remaining, she made a few handsigns and activated Daitoppa.

Caught by surprise, the man was blasted backward and landed on his neck with a sickening crack.

He didn't stand up again, and Mokuren turned to join in Tetsuko's fight when she noticed the first man she'd hit on his knees, senbon heading away from him. She didn't have enough time to warn her teammates, and barely had enough time to dodge the one aimed at her.

There was something on it - she could see some liquid dripping off and looked to her teammates, alarmed. They hadn't even noticed, and were still fighting, although Tetsuko's opponent had pulled back.

Seeing nothing else that she could do until they reacted somehow, she stabbed one of Kentsu's opponents as he knocked out the other and then the boys suddenly fell.

"What was on those senbon?"

"Don't worry, it wasn't poison. There's no point using any, after all. Now drop your weapons." The man named Neiro ordered, stood up shakily with a kunai in his good hand and moved to stand by Kentsu.

Feeling hopeless as her adrenaline suddenly crashed, Mokuren dropped her weapons and removed her pouch, gently kicking them away.

"Good. Now, when I came here I was just planning on taking your things and going, but you've given us quite a lot of trouble." Neiro sneered, changing his grip to prepare to throw the kunai. Mokuren was frozen, unsure whether she should dodge or not.

"Don't hurt her." Ayano suddenly said, and Mokuren fell back a step, confused by the sudden development.

"Ayano-chan..?" Neiro frowned over at the blonde, sneer long gone from his face.

" _Look_ at her. Try to imagine her face without the burns." She urged him.

The man didn't understand what she was getting at but did his best. After a moment, his eyes bugged out.

"Mei."

Mokuren recognized that name, and wondered if he somehow meant the same Mei the lady in the restaurant had.

"She's Mokuren. Mo-ku-re-nnnnn..." Kentsu sounded out, correcting Neiro even though he could barely move his lips.

"Well, obviously she isn't actually Mei. I meant that she closely resembled her... do you think she's similar _enough_?" Neiro asked Ayano. "If the resemblance isn't enough, things would only get worse." That was still awfully cryptic, but Mokuren felt she understood what was going on a little better.

"Definitely. I thought she _was_ her when I first looked her in the eye, and I knew Mei even better than he did."

"But the personality's all wrong and we don't have any genjutsu users strong enough to mess with a ninja. Let's just kill them all already." Neiro said abruptly, and ignoring Ayano's glare he pulled Kentsu back up by his hair.

"Wait a minute!" Mokuren interrupted, trying not to let panic color her tone.

"We can work something out, can't we?! You need someone to pretend to be this... Mei, right? If you leave them alive - with all of our provisions, including what we stole - I'll go with you willingly and act as her." Despite her efforts, she was very clearly pleading.

Neiro and Ayano traded a glance, the man's accompanied by a slight smirk. "If you go back on your word, we'll hunt them down and they won't have nearly as easy a death." Neiro threatened, lowering Kentsu more carefully than Mokuren would have expected.

Ayano walked over to her slowly, stepping carefully around Tetsuko's body.

She tied Mokuren's arms behind her back and added a chakra restraint seal that Mokuren felt right away. It was a bit dizzying, feeling her own chakra fall away to be carried along by a breeze.

After shuffling through Mokuren's bag, she pulled out the bottle of medicine and raised her eyebrows. Mokuren nodded in response, and Ayano pocketed it.

"The paralyzer is already fading out of their system. We'd better get a move on." Neiro remarked.

* * *

_**End Note: I tried out spacing things further, lmk if it looks ridiculous.**_


	9. Arc 2: Missing Piece

**_Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Four, Missing Piece_ **

"Ohayou." A soft voice greeted her as Mokuren returned to the world of the conscious.

Frowning, the brunette turned to face the blonde who sat beside her bed. "Do I know you?"

"My name's Ayano." The girl reminded her, and the previous day's memories filtered in.

"Oh." Mokuren said at last. Ayano seemed a little exasperated with that response, but relaxed soon enough.

"I've got about an hour to teach you how to be Zoruna Mei, so you'd better get up. I washed you and gave you new clothes, in case you were wondering about those. We've had a couple different healers work on you but I'm sure it still hurts. How did you get in that state?" Ayano wondered, making Mokuren's bed carefully as the kunoichi stood up.

Mokuren shrugged, unwilling to answer. Ayano frowned over at her. "Don't shrug any more. I don't think I ever saw her shrug, if she had an uncertain answer she'd make a face, or move her hand like this." The blonde demonstrated the movement as well as the face, and Mokuren copied her. "Not quite like that, move your lips like you're pulling open a bag by its strings." It took a few tries before Ayano was satisfied with the grimace-like motion and then with a mirror Ayano had her practice a few other facial expressions.

"Can I ask who I'm expected to fool?"

"Mei's father, Zoruna Ryuu."

"Why?!" Mokuren was startled into asking, turning to stare at Ayano.

Ayano shifted her weight to one foot uncomfortably. "I suppose you do need to know. Mei... she died a few years back, but... Ryuu-sama wouldn't accept that. He insisted that she was still alive, however much we argued, even with the body in front of him he disagreed. He's gotten rather violently upset at us of late for not looking hard enough, he requires every team to take a picture of Mei with them for reference and has begun punishing people who return without any new information on her location. We haven't given him our report yet." Ayano added, her tone lightening slightly.

"I don't expect you to know everything about being Mei within an hour, but we're giving you a trial run with him. Every morning when he wakes up he asks the servants where Mei is and cowards that they are, they tell him she's out in her garden... where we buried her." Ayano nearly choked out the last phrase, before clearing her throat and unsteadily continuing.

"He always goes straight out there, but not with any hope these days, just resignment. If you were sitting there in her chair, acting just like her... I imagine he would think he was dreaming. We'll knock him out if anything gets out of hand and give him something to make his memories blurry if you screw up - or, actually, even if you succeed. We can't have him ignoring three years of business. We'll re-introduce you tomorrow or the next day, depending on how successful you are."

With a nod, Mokuren digested that. After a few moments pause, she asked, "Hey... what was Mei to you?"

"Heh?!" Ayano squeaked, blushing brightly. "Don't ask it that way! I was her maidservant!" She let her blush fade. "...and her best friend." The girl added shortly, her shoulders slumping.

Mokuren bit her lip, and then awkwardly patted Ayano's arm. Comforting wasn't her strong suit. "You don't like that I have to pretend to be her at all." She observed.

Ayano wiped away a couple of tears. "You need to, though. He can't keep hurting people this way... and honestly, I don't even like that you resemble her. But that doesn't mean I'll hesitate, if we fight again!" She hastily warned Mokuren, realizing the way things sounded. "Now come on, I've got to show you the garden..."

Thirty minutes later found Mokuren perched on a chair in the strangest underground space she'd ever seen, stranger even than Gyo Shokudou's basement. It was brightly lit by an odd combination of torches in the center and glowing crystals along the walls. An attempt had clearly been made to make it look as if the crystals grew here naturally but they were far too at odds with the sandstone. Still, the overall effect was pleasant.

She didn't know what was more troubling in this situation, really. On the one hand, there was no guarantee that this charade would actually protect her teammates, and on the other...

There was something Mokuren found terribly ironic about pretending to be a beloved daughter to a doting father. She knew the role well enough, certainly, but it had been such a long time and thinking of her father, of how disappointed he would pretend not to be at the choices she had made, she felt her gut twist with guilt.

All too soon, the door opened. Mokuren had only a few moments to look at the man known as Zoruna Ryuu before he was on her. For a moment she forgot herself and very nearly attacked, before she recognized the hug for what it was. She forced herself to relax and hug back.

"I knew it... I knew you were alive." The first statement to go against Ayano's 'trial run' plan, but not the last.

Hearing the hope and pain in his voice, Mokuren felt a wave of pity for him. "Tadaima." She mumbled - not really caring for a plan, just then.

Hours later, when she had been dragged around the place by a toddlerlike adult, giddy with the happiness of having a daughter again, and shown everything, and barely escaped making up a sob story to explain away the absence of 'Mei', Mokuren would scold herself thoroughly for that sympathy. These were enemies, but she had not treated them that way, really; the entire day had been so surreal, and she hated to admit even to herself that she had enjoyed having a father again, even a pretend one nothing like her first. She really hoped Temari would come and find her before she grew too close to these people.

Some part of her didn't think it would be all that bad to live as Mei for a while longer, though.

* * *

_**End Note: Fixed some spelling and divided Ayano's text a little better, this chapter still makes me a little sad.** _


	10. Arc 2: To Become Stronger

_**Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Five, To Become Stronger** _

"We should try and be ready to leave any time." Tetsuko's suggestion was quiet, but it still shattered the silence that had encompassed the two of them for hours.

"What's the point?" Kentsu mumbled, curling in on himself.

Tetsuko could think of plenty of points - if they were attacked again they would almost certainly have to run. Mokuren hadn't given up her freedom so they could die that easily. If - when - Temari came for them, she would need to go after Mokuren immediately and they couldn't hold her up packing things. Also, if Mokuren managed to escape on her own they would need to hurry.

He knew Kentsu would just argue against all of that as he was now and Tetsuko didn't need any more negativity. He chose to say nothing and waited until his teammate was fast asleep to begin organizing their scant belongings and mend the tent floor. The wind started up, chilling the air as the horizon lightened.

As the sun began to gild the sand, Kentsu awoke with a start, confused. At first he thought he had overslept and felt sheepish for skipping out on his watch. Then he remembered, and a lead ball dropped into his stomach, weighing him down as he moved his bruised body to look in the tent.

Tetsuko stopped what he was doing and looked at him. "I..." Kentsu cleared his throat, uncertain what to say.

When it became obvious that he wouldn't be able to say anything, the other boy spoke up. "Here's for breakfast." His dark-haired teammate held out something vaguely nutritious.

With some hesitation, Kentsu took it. His stomach was too upset to want food but he had a feeling that it was more of a peace offering, a show of forgiveness, than it was anything else. He didn't deserve it, but he couldn't turn it away.

After the paralyzing element had worn off, Kentsu had freaked and said things he shouldn't have, upset as he was, and placed the blame on everyone other than himself, only stopping when he realized how much he was hurting his remaining teammate and shuffled off to sit alone.

He really hate how insensitive he could be at times, but hell - worrying about anyone else made him feel even more ill. Kentsu didn't know what to say to help Tetsuko, Mokuren was who-knows-where going through who-knows-what, and Temari could be dead for all they knew.

Shaking those thoughts away, Kentsu tried to work out where he could go from here.

"The paper..." Tetsuko started to say, but cut himself off.

"Eh?" Caught off guard, he tried to figure out if there was anything paper around, only coming up with toilet paper.

"Nothing." The dark-haired boy shook his head and frowned. "What should we do?"

"Wait?" Kentsu weakly suggested.

"...Okay." There wasn't a whole lot else to do.

They still took shifts to sleep and eat and Tetsuko caught himself trying to check on Mokuren's condition more than once, as if she was still half-dead and there. It didn't seem right that they weren't going after her - not that they stood much of a chance of succeeding, but he knew they should at least try.

Without actually discussing it, they began practicing again and sparred a few times. Neither mentioned it, but after two days of hopelessness neither could stand the idea of waiting. They would go mad if they didn't do something, try something. They had been left alone as promised and that meant Mokuren was probably alright, but for how long?

"We almost had it." Kentsu mumbled apropos of nothing after a sparring session. Tetsuko frowned at him, but understood immediately after the next sentence. "If we had paid more attention, we could have won."

"Mokuren was with us." Tetsuko reminded him.

"But if we were stronger and more careful..."

His teammate nodded, understanding exactly what Kentsu was getting at.


	11. Arc 2: Memories Of Those Lost

**_Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Six, Memories of Those Lost_ **

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Mokuren spoke as she finished the signs. With a poof of smoke a tiny rat, still pink, appeared. The corner of Mokuren's lips twisted downward. She fed the rat a little warm milk from a saucer she had nearby for that purpose before de-summoning it and preparing to try again.

"You needn't rush it, Mei. Your chakra reserves are still not recovered enough to summon a useful rat. Trying now is just wasting your energy." Zoruna reassured her.

She nodded, but continued. She thought the rat was perhaps a little larger this time, and Zoruna shook his head. He had visibly grown calmer in the last few days and Ayano had thanked Mokuren, despite annoyance at leaving the plan behind. By and large she seemed more friendly, and even the others treated her as a child instead of as an enemy of any sort. They were underestimating her, Mokuren recognized.

It was difficult to believe, but they had let their guards down so much as to not even argue when Zoruna asked her to sign the family's summoning scroll, and he had left her to her own long enough for her to sign her real name in blood. It made her uneasy, but she doubted it would have worked if she had signed 'Zoruna Mei' and a summoning contract could be very useful someday, provided she got out of there. She was having doubts about that, though, after two weeks of no sign of Temari.

The Zoruna's hidden compound generally held only ten to fifteen people at a time but housed the supplies for nearly a hundred more. Only six people were permanent fixtures; the others stayed only a couple days at the most before moving on, some taking water and food, others bringing it in. Mokuren wished it was a little more consistent; although the usual people relaxed, the newer ones watched her carefully. She had few opportunities to escape and she knew what would happen if she attempted and failed. She couldn't take risks.

What few plans she had were upset when on their way to dinner Zoruna suddenly grabbed her arm. With his free hand he clutched his head and cried out, collapsing onto the floor and nearly pulling Mokuren down with him. After a moment he looked up and stared into her eyes. In a hoarse voice, he whispered, "You're not... my Mei."

Mokuren's eyes widened as her stomach sunk, and she pulled away. Within a moment, though, Zoruna's eyes glazed over and he stood, walking along as if nothing had happened. As they entered the dining hall, Neiro caught her eye and jerked his head towards one of the doors, his expression unreadable. After the meal, Zoruna was called away to discuss 'important matters' and Mokuren warily entered the kitchen. Ayano was there, alone, seated at the counter.

"What happened?" She asked, not angrily but as if her boss falling was something unimportant. Her expression became almost gleeful as Mokuren finished explaining, causing a raised eyebrow.

"What's good about that?"

Ayano shook her head. "If this happens again, be honest with him as much as possible - don't tell him you're shinobi. If he attacks you I will interfere." She said reassuringly.

Mokuren's other eyebrow nearly jumped up and she resisted the urge to scoff. She doubted the girl would be much help, but didn't imagine pointing that out would help her any. Ayano accompanied her back to 'her' bedroom and watched her for a while. Mokuren had been spending this alone time training but with Ayano there she instead opted to read one of the many dusty romance novels littering Mei's dressing table. Ayano left before long with a warning glance, and Mokuren followed soon enough, intent on trying summoning again. It might have been a risk, something she knew she shouldn't do, but she hadn't been told to stay in her room this time.

She encountered no one on her way there, and felt more than a little suspicious of that, even if she was grateful. Rounding the final corner, she saw that the door was already ajar.

Feeling uneasy, Mokuren entered the training room and pulled the door closed behind her.

Zoruna looked up and offered a small, sad smile. "Ohayou Mei... or should I call you by your real name?"

The summoning scroll lay open on the table before him and Mokuren winced briefly before shifting into a more prepared stance. "Anything's fine."

Zoruna's smile slipped away and he nodded. Getting straight to the point, he asked, "Where are you from?"

"Arunde." She gave the name of the town her grandparents came from without missing a beat.

Zoruna nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry about all of this." He waved a hand around and Mokuren suddenly felt very confused. "These people are very loyal, too much so at times. I'll see to it that you're returned to Arunde soon."

"You're just going to let me go?!" She couldn't understand. Mokuren had seen many things in these last few days and learned secrets - had even signed a secret summoning scroll - of course she could not just _leave_.

His eyes filled with unmistakable sadness. "How old are you?"

With some hesitation, she answered, "Twelve."

"Your father must be worried sick." Zoruna murmured, looking ill himself. As caught up in the conversation as she had been, Mokuren only then noticed Ayano's presence right behind the door. She crushed the small hope that had appeared when she recognized Zoruna's motivation.

"My father is dead." She answered evenly.

It wasn't clear if his eyes were watering or glazing over even as he stepped closer and looked her right in the eye. "He was murdered."

Taking her tensed shoulders as confirmation, Zoruna continued. "A girl of twelve from Arunde shouldn't have the chakra to summon anything at all. You must have worked very hard." Mokuren cringed internally at the discontinuity she had missed, expecting him to reveal her within a minute.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled and held it before exhaling sharply. "Revenge does nothing." He surprised her by saying, understanding in his eyes and desperation in his voice. "It does not make your heart hurt any less. It does not bring your loved ones back to you. You must cherish what you still have and let the rage go. You're still young. You can forget. It isn't wrong..." He stumbled closer until he could grip her arms, his eyes alight with pain. "No father would want his daughter to drown in anger or sadness. You will meet again someday - wait until then..." Zoruna's knees buckled and she lowered him onto the floor, feeling numb.

"... No father wants his children to suffer. I wanted her to find love and happiness..." Zoruna croaked, tears streaming down his face. "... You look so much like her... My Mei's eyes, but the pain in them..."

Something was stuck in Mokuren's throat. Swallowing didn't help, and it hurt to breathe. She knew all that, had heard it before, but... From this man who understood so clearly, it meant much more. She didn't cry, but her heart ached.

By the next day, Zoruna had recovered and forgotten her real name. He easily accepted her as Mei and fawned over her, every bit the loving father once more. Mokuren's reactions and smiles were more heartfelt though, despite the hollow feeling spreading from her chest. Her mind was on autopilot, debating, deciding, repeating his speech. Rarely had she felt so lost.

* * *

_**End Notes: I'm a little concerned about the poor flow of their conversations, but I'm not sure how to adjust them.** _


	12. Arc 2: Fiery Fist And The Flute

**_Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Seven, Fiery Fist and the Flute_ **

"I think they're smugglers."

A small group of people had stopped near the boy's camp, and so the two had been keeping a close eye on them the last day.

"What makes you say that?"

"I got a look at some of the stuff in their caravan earlier - looked like books, alcohol, some jars of I-don't-even-know-what... and a woman in a cage?" Kentsu wasn't really sure what to make of that last one, but everything else made sense.

"Who is she?"

He snorted. "How the heck would I know?"

"Well, they might still have something to do with _them_. I still think we should go in."

Most of their food supply had become casualties is a small training accident for which Tetsuko wouldn't admit he had been partially - read, completely - to blame. He had been trying to work out the wind style technique Daitoppa that Temari had taught Mokuren and a surprise sneeze had redirected the force.

At any rate, they needed more food and these travelers, whatever else they might be, had plenty. None of them looked particularly strong and there were only four - five total, if he counted the girl in the cage.

"Are you sure you saw a girl in there?" Tetsuko mumbled, hours later. They were prepared, waiting just out of sight of the traveler's night guard.

"She's in a dress braiding long purple hair. Baka."

"You didn't mention that before, how was I supposed to know?" Tetsuko sneered back.

"Whatever. I think they're all out, try and avoid the girl." His teammate's momentary frown wasn't very reassuring. "Tetsuko, seriously. We don't know what's going on and we have our own problems. It could be some kind of trap, she could be a friend of theirs, a drunk, a criminal..."

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me."

He did know, but... she had spoken to him first!

"Are you here to save me?" A hoarse voice had asked, as if the mere idea was amusing. Kentsu had knocked out the guard almost silently and they had only been searching for a minute when he risked peeking into the main caravan.

Curiosity and guilt stirred him up and Tetsuko stepped in. The girl's hair looked pink in this lighting, and she was dark-skinned with warm brown eyes. Seeing him, a smile lit up her face and she waved, looking perfectly comfortable in her little prison.

"What's your name?" He asked in a whisper.

"Will you release me if I tell you?"

"Why are you in there?"

"Why are you here at all?" She again answered with a question.

Tetsuko gave her a frustrated glare and she met it with a pseudo-innocent smile.

"I can't let you out if I think you'll hurt us?"

"Us, hmm?" She mused, and Tetsuko winced. "Well, then. My name is Azami, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I interfered in some business," Azami gestured at the jars, bottles and books on the shelves lining the caravan's 'walls'. "And I suppose they're going to have a go at selling me." Her nostrils flared slightly, despite her cheerful tone. "Now, let's talk about you. Who are you, and what are you? A thief?" She guessed.

"Shinobi," he corrected sharply, feeling snubbed. "And you don't need to know my-"

"Oi, Tetsuko! Where are you?" Kentsu hissed from outside. "I've got enough for a while, we have to get going."

Azami snickered, earning herself another glare before her face cleared of emotion and she leaned forward. "Well, that's enough of that, then, Tetsu-chan. Open this door now or I will wake them all. There's a man here strong enough to take out a couple genin easily - you wouldn't stand a chance," she added when he still hesitated.

"I told you not to talk to her!" Kentsu whispered exasperatedly, startling Tetsuko. He hadn't heard the other boy enter.

Azami sighed and sat back. "You have five seconds before I start screaming. One... Two..."

"Where's the key?" Kentsu asked, paling.

"In that coat's back pocket... I think." She mumbled the last part under her breath.

"It's not in there!" He snapped, turning to look at Azami.

"That's not my fault!"

It took him a while to locate the key, and even then they hesitated to open the door. "Promise you won't attack us or wake them up."

"Seriously? Of course I won't."

"Promise!" Tetsuko insisted.

"Whatever, I promise. Now open it."

Kentsu and Tetsuko shared a look. "I don't believe you."

Azami drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs with air and tilting her head back. Hurriedly, Kentsu unlocked the door and leapt back. Azami's hands were tied behind her back, however, and she got up slowly, crouch as she walked out. There was a seal attached, probably to lock her chakra, and she once again used the threat of screaming to have those cut.

"You came here for food - I suppose that means we're not near any towns. What are you two doing out here alone, anyway?"

Tetsuko and Kentsu shared a look, and replied simultaneously.

"Survival training exercise."

"A sandstorm blew away our sensei."

Tetsuko gave his teammate an exasperated look. Azami chuckled and declared, "Pinky's my favorite."

Kentsu's jaw dropped, horrified. He sputtered, "I-it's not pink, it's, it's-"

"Coral? Salmon?" She supplied, smirking.

Tetsuko elbowed Kentsu, hoping to convey the message that he needed to be more quiet and not allow the strange woman to rile him up, and his teammate seemed to understand but was rather sulky about letting the matter of his hair color go. "We should get moving."

"You're out first." Kentsu sneered at Azami.

"In a moment, there's a few things I need... Ooh, what's this? Interesting." She hummed, inspecting a flute before stuffing it down her shirt. "Some sake, that's a must... it's stupid how restrictive Wind Country is about vices. Are these _eyeballs_?"

"Could you hurry the heck up! Actually, never mind. C'mon." The shorter boy huffed, dragging Tetsuko out by the back of his coat.

"Chotto matte!" Azami whined, leaving the caravan with alcohol bottles balanced on her head as well as filling her arms.

"You're not coming with us!"

"I'll share..." she offered, her eyebrows jumping up and down invitingly.

Tetsuko wrinkled his nose. "We don't want any of your stinking sake."

"We're twelve." Kentsu pitched in.

"Lame." Azami deadpanned, her eyebrows settling down. "Wind Country is full of lame people. No porn, no sake, how anyone functions I will never -"

All three froze as they heard a shuffling sound from one of the tents, and then the younger two hurried away, whispering, "Don't follow us!" as they went the wrong way until that camp was definitely out of earshot.

"Look, we let you out. Be grateful and go away." Kentsu told Azami as she caught up with them, having been forced to move more slowly to keep the bottles on her head.

"I don't know where to go. If I just wander off I'll die. Do you really want that on your conscience?"

"You're shinobi, aren't you?"

"Yes." She admitted.

"So you can handle yourself."

Azami pouted and made no move to go off on her own. After a minute, she asked, "Genin come in threes, usually. Where's the other one?"

Kentsu's eye twitched and he snapped, leaping at Azami. She dodged, losing one of her bottles in the process. It shattered noisily as it hit the sand.

"Oh hell, do you think-?" The question was left unfinished as Azami threw off the rest of the sake on her head and started running east. The boys relunctantly followed her, spotting a light amidst the tents.

They circled around and eventually reached their campsite, quickly packing up their things and moving. Kentsu kept a close eye on Azami all the while, but her worry for the alcohol seemed to be the only suspicious thing about her.

Despite their wishes, Azami remained with the boys and they gradually came to trust her with watches. She made things a little more lively, sharing ridiculous stories she had picked up in Tea Country and even agreeing to help the boys train.

Her chakra was fiery in nature, like Kentsu's, and she agreed to help him to use that kind of chakra and taught him a couple of Katon jutsu he could barely use before focusing on Tetsuko.

"Are you any good with genjutsu?" She had asked him, and so his lessons began.

Three more days passed before Azami finally wondered aloud, "Why do you need to train so badly?"

Tetsuko frowned and debated whether he should tell her or not. Kentsu had no such qualms.

"When we met... you asked about our teammate. Her name is Mokuren, and she was captured a couple of weeks ago. We have to rescue her."

"Do you even know where she is?"

"Well, we're not completely sure, but..." Tetsuko began.

"We saw some travelers open a hole in the sand a few miles south of here, and a different bunch came out a few hours later. One of them was there when Mokuren was taken."

Azami nodded, straightening as she thought things through. They showed her the spot later in the day, and together the three of them started on plans to enter and extract her.

Their training intensified, and Azami forced Kentsu to focus on the ability to use chakra to superheat kunai and his own fists without burning himself, while loaning Tetsuko the flute she had stolen and showing him how to use it to weave illusions without wasting chakra or losing the advantage of surprise by establishing a connection one person at a time.

They kept a close eye on it for about a week, observing patterns of the people leaving and entering before they decided to intercept and impersonate some members of the next group to come through.

In the night they managed to locate the next supply group's camp, many miles away, and sat in to observe for nearly a day and a half the actions and attitudes of three of the five people, who it seemed could not open the passage down into the compound at will. They had to wait for it to open at the appropriate time, two days from the time Azami, Kentsu and Tetsuko had started watching them.

They made the switch during the night, with Kentsu becoming a thickly set sixteen year old named Akio, Tetsuko a quiet twenty-two year old by the name of Isao, and Azami an older man who went by Chai even though his real name seemed to be Tadao. Luckily none of the five seemed particularly close and knew very little of one another's pasts, so Azami had speculated it would be relatively easy for them to replace Akio, Isao, and Chai.

And it was... except there was one _little_ problem.

"Wake up." Hisao snarled, shaking Tetsuko. The sky was much lighter in color, and the boy wondered how he had fallen asleep anyway."Chai-san's gone. All of his things are gone. We have three hours to get in or we wait a week. What the hell should we do?" Behind her stood 'Akio' and Yasuo, the final member of this supply group.

* * *

**_End Notes: I have always imagined Kaze no Kuni as a rather conservative place because of the glimpses we've gotten about life in Sunagakure. Somehow, it became an important fact of this AU? sorry. Mostly just spelling errors in this chapter._ **


	13. Arc 2: Reunited

_**Arc Two, Lost Mission; Chapter Eight, Reunited** _

Tetsuko was rather proud of his temperament most of the time, but as he walked with Yasuo, 'Akio', and Hisao he was positively fuming.

Not only had that - that - Azami - abandoned them, he had been forced to decide alone what to do about that. He'd only seen one possibility from the first, admittedly.

Hunting down Azami, who had either abandoned them or betrayed them, would look very suspicious and potentially blow their cover. The only reason the decision had been left to 'Isao' was that he had slept in later than the rest and nobody really wanted to be the one to take the blame that would come with either decision.

As annoying and confusing as it might be that Chai had disappeared suddenly, only Kentsu genuinely seemed to think they should search. He stayed quiet and stuck to slightly betrayed looks, annoying the hell out of Tetsuko by trying for some guilt.

There was a moment, right before the sand opened, where a sudden twist in his gut reminded Tetsuko that this could be a trap, Azami could have been working with these people...

He breathed in while counting to four, held it for seven, and exhaled for eight seconds. There was no time for panicking. Yasuo entered first, and the others followed. Tetsuko fell to the back, and Akio turned to look at him for a moment before stretching his arms, up, surreptitiously putting in ear plugs. Nobody seemed to notice, and Tetsuko took out his flute.

"What's that?" Hisao asked when the music began, stopping and trying to turn her head. Inexplicably, she must have found found she couldn't move, and her vision began to blur. Yasuo was not as easily taken out, recognizing genjutsu as soon as it seized her and releasing herself.

"What are you-?" She asked, anger and puzzlement evident. Kentsu knocked her out and, releasing their disguises, the two armed themselves and raced in. They didn't quite know where to go, but they hoped to find someone from the previous fight to confront.

Beating the answers out of someone sounded nice in theory, but Tetsuko felt rather doubtful. This whole bit was rather foolhardy, especially considering the first few enemies were all unfamiliar and it had always been questionable whether this was even the right place - Mokuren had broken into wherever she was now, with no time for planning, and that meant either she had been incredibly lucky, there was another entrance, or this was the wrong place altogether.

Two more enemies rushed them, and Tetsuko was fairly certain the alarm had been sounded on their attack.

 _Anesthesia_ , Mokuren registered, uncertain why that word had come to mind. Staring up at sandstone, she contemplated meaningless things like the size an ant would have to be to make tunnels this big, and whether or not sand puppies were actually happy - what would make a sand puppy unhappy? Something awfully mean, because they were adorable in their own freaky way.

"Mei, are you alright?" Someone asked, startling her. She hadn't noticed, but Zoruna Ryuu was in a chair beside her... bed? No, this bed wasn't hers, it was comfy but the sheets were white and she had always preferred darker colored blankets. Mei had shared the sentiment, come to think of it.

"I don't know." She mumbled, her voice sounding odd to her own ears. "Why...?" Uncertain what to ask first, Mokuren stopped there and tried to focus. Much of her body felt numb, and although she had a feeling that should upset her, it didn't, really. She couldn't smell much either, and her ears weren't fully operational. Her eyes worked well enough, but things were admittedly a little blurry. She could sense Zoruna's energy beside here, and Ayano's somewhere nearby... there were others, not as many as she would expect, and she couldn't recognize them. One seemed almost like Tetsuko's, but that wasn't very likely.

Or... yes, it was. As memories flooded in, Mokuren attempted to sit up. Pain shot up her body, coming from both legs despite the drugs in her system. She could see that they were propped up and wrapped tightly, now that she had lifted her head. Zoruna gently pushed her back down. "Don't strain yourself." He insisted.

Mokuren wondered how her injuries had been explained, and if it would even be worth it to try and keep up the farce. Her teammates were in the compound - she could sense both of them, not as clearly as she would have liked, and while they were heading in the wrong direction they did seem stronger and she wondered if they would manage to rescue her. She could sense a fair few other people as well, none of whom seemed overly familiar, and she hoped Tetsuko and Kentsu hadn't come alone. She wasn't in a state to walk out, after all.

She pretended not to hear the little voice that pointed out that if she had just trusted them when she first sensed them heading towards the Zoruna compound and not attempted to escape and been caught, they could have been on their way out by now.

Several weeks previous, a blonde woman had woken up to find herself bandaged up in a house in the Land of Rivers.

It was the home of a tall, lanky dark-haired man named Katsuo, and he was not by any means a medical expert but he insisted she stay and rest while he tried to find someone to tend to her. Groggy and unfocused, without clear memory of what her mind was urging her to go and do regardless of her health, Temari had agreed and fallen asleep.

She had been comatose for a while, the green-haired boy told her, not giving an exact number of days.

She was still in Katsuo's house, and, unsure of his identity, Temari had been unwilling to answer any of the boy's questions and resistant to treatment; looking back she suspected he had knocked her out, but when she had woken up and found she could move again it was worth overlooking. He had left already; Katsuo mentioned something about debt and being chased out, but it hadn't been important at the time.

Her team, she remembered at last, needed her. With any luck they had also been taken in somewhere along Kawa's border - Katsuo helped her look, starting with the place she had been found. It took some time to obtain a map and see how far she had been blown, and she had left the Land of Rivers almost immediately, heading towards the town their mission had centered around. She had every intention of searching that area after sending a summoned weasel with a message to her brother, but had unfortunately been sidetracked.

Eventually, though, she had ran across an idiot with a photo - Zoruna Mei, he had insisted, was the name of the girl, and she had died a long time before, but her resemblance to Mokuren was uncanny and had to be investigated. It was much more of a lead than she had gotten til then.

Obtaining the location of the girl's home had been difficult - the first place was clearly abandoned and had been for years, and the second seemed to be in an underground cave network. There were few maps of those tunnels, and guides seemed unaware of anyone living down there.

The ceiling had collapsed in one area in recent years, and lead up into the surface again. Searching around that area, Temari had found remnants of a campsite and her summons confirmed that her team had been here within the last couple of days but had left in a hurry. There had been a stranger with them, and Temari hoped they were alright. They couldn't be far, but her summons lead her to an empty area of sand where they claimed the trail ended. Frustrated, it took her a few minutes to remember the underground.

Hearing Kentsu swear, Tetsuko turned around. Neiro had pinned him and held a kunai to his throat - a familiar situation, this. Neiro barely had the chance to smirk before the earth shook violently, the ceiling dropping dust - Kentsu took advantage of the moment's surprise and reversed the situation. "Where's Mokuren?" He demanded.

Struggling, Neiro didn't answer. Kentsu pressed the blade until blood welled up around the tip. "Where?"

"Doesn't matter," he rasped in response, sneering.

"Up the stairs, the second door on the left." A woman's voice answered from the doorway. Ayano's eyes were listless, her arms wrapped around herself. "She's injured, and I don't know what that was - an attack, possibly. You've not much luck." She chuckled dryly.

Neither boy was in the mood for her nonsense; Kentsu knocked Neiro out with a quick blow to the head and the two hurried the way Ayano indicated, choosing to trust her. The door was already open, and they looked through with some trepidation - much of the ceiling had fallen in here, but more shocking than the natural light was the dead body on the floor, and their sensei, Temari, who was pulling Mokuren out from under the sand. The younger kunoichi was crying slightly, blood seeping through the bandages on her legs.

"Tetsuko, Kentsu." Temari said, relieved. Frozen in the doorway, Kentsu took a moment to figure out whether or not he was hallucinating... and then he hurried over and pinched his teacher before hugging her, careful not to get between her and Mokuren.

"Where have you been?" He tried to ask, but all that came out was a kind of croak.

With some difficulty, they got Mokuren out. She passed out at some point, and didn't wake up until they had managed to rig something to carry her on the back of one of Temari's largest weasels.

"I'm sorry, Kentsu... Tetsuko." She mumbled, only half awake, upon seeing their faces.

"Sorry for what?" Tetsuko asked with a weak laugh. She just shook her head.

* * *

_**End Notes: It seemed in the show that much of the time, a summoning scroll linked you to a whole genus/species rather than to one individual animal and so for this I have assumed Kamatari is not Temari's only summoned weasel.** _

_**Things are left kind of vague, but rest assured they will be cleared. Sorry...** _


	14. Arc 3: To Sangogakure!

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter One, To Sangogakure!** _

"Forests are awful." Kentsu whined, shaking out his coat. Underneath it he wore a mesh shirt and long brown pants.

Tetsuko had his hood up and looked miserable. "I've never seen this many bugs in my whole life."

"We're almost to the bridge." Mokuren reminded them, hoping they would quit complaining and become excited to see the ocean, the bridge, or even the graves. She at least found the insects interesting, as they did not seem interested in biting her, but found the humidity of Fire Country exhausting.

It had been nearly three months since Temari's team had returned to Sunagakure, and in that time Mokuren had spent far too much time in the hospital for her injuries or for chakra exhaustion - enough that Temari had tried to argue that they should wait on entering the chunin exams so that Mokuren would be able to keep up. Mokuren, as she would immediately regret, had immediately glared at Kentsu, expecting a snicker or some kind of jibe, but he had only looked worried.

It had been disheartening to her that he had become more mature because of all that had happened - it suddenly felt like he was almost a stranger without that anger she had been used to, and she realized that the team's dynamics had shifted without her.

She had reacted rather embarrassingly, in hindsight, behaving childishly and sulkily, bewildering almost everyone she talked to for almost a week until Tetsuko had cornered her and managed to get the explanation from her - and things had gotten better from there. All three of them had spent more time together with the occasional awkward conversation about feelings, sharing their experiences from the time out in the desert.

Guilty as she felt for it, Mokuren didn't tell them much about Ayano, Zoruna, or ever mentioned her summons. The first two, because it would hurt; the last because her pride demanded she surprise them, when she was proficient enough to summon something worthwhile.

Together, they had managed to convince Temari that they could handle the exams, only barely in time to sign up. Maitsu's team had already left by the time they were granted permission, with their sensei, Umerano, having bet that Mokuren wouldn't be allowed at all.

As it was, they would only have a couple of days in the Hidden Coral before the first exam started, hopefully enough time to meet some of the competition and talk with the older Sand teams. Senurou, who had once been Mokuren's father's teammate, had warned her that some tests were easier with alliances, and those between teams from the same village tended to work out for the better.

As she was his wife, Umerano had been there and was quick to tell her that her team was the only other rookie team from Suna and would not work with Mokuren. There was a vague possibility that Kirikama might convince Maitsu otherwise, though she supposed it would be better to try older genin as well.

"Is that it?" Tetsuko asked, peering through the trees. "Is that - the _ocean_?"

"Heh? No way! It's so... blue!" Kentsu exclaimed.

"And here I thought it would be pink."

"What's with that attitude?" He asked, grinning back at Mokuren. "Lighten up! Look, there's a beach and everything!" Kentsu chirped, starting to run. Tetsuko raced him to the water and with little care for their clothing, they both leapt in.

"S-samui!" Tetsuko cried, flailing as he surfaced and crawling his way onto shore. "Why is it s-so cold?!"

"H-hell if I know!"

Temari and Mokuren refused to attempt to dry their clothes or hair, and Tetsuko's attempt failed miserably. He had actually put little effort forward into learning wind style, instead focusing on advancing his illusionary techniques past what Azami had taught him.

Kentsu's attempt burnt a hole through the back of Tetsuko's coat, which he threw off to keep his pants from being burnt. Without the coat, Tetsuko looked remarkably twig-like and highly uncomfortable.

Mokuren resolved to fatten him up - for a ninja, he looked rather weak and while it could be very useful, she doubted Tetsuko would appreciate being underestimated.

They reached the Great Naruto bridge later that afternoon, but the amusement of travelers looking on at the boys dampened their spirits. Mokuren did give drying them a go eventually, but they insisted on keeping the clothes on and an accident of sorts sent them flying off the bridge. Tetsuko managed to land on top of the water using chakra, but Kentsu wasn't so lucky; Temari took pity on them then and dried both.

After that, Mokuren monopolized conversation by asking a lot of questions about the Wave Country and its relatively new hidden village. Temari didn't have much to tell her, though.

There were many islands to Wave, but it was still incredibly small, almost invisible on maps that showed the whole of Wind. Their population was still lower than Wind's, but just barely - their economy was booming and a huge percentage of the current population were between eighteen and thirty, so Temari expected it would surpass them soon enough.

The humidity was nothing compared to the stillness of the air - Mokuren hoped she would adjust quickly. It felt strange to breathe, and there were all kinds of unfamiliar, disconcerting smells in the air.

As the city at the end of the bridge came into view, Kentsu whistled. They had passed through a couple towns in Fire, and the motley buildings and wild colors had wowed them then - this place was ten times more strange. "Do you think Sango's going to be like this?"

Tetsuko shrugged, privately imagining that the Hidden Coral Village would be underwater with buildings made of coral. He didn't want to mention that in case it was a stupid thought and even shinobi couldn't live undersea. "Where do we go from there?" He asked Temari.

"They've sent out guides to bring genin teams in. Ours is waiting for us up there."

'Waiting' wasn't quite the right word. Their guide, who insisted on being called Aki-chan, wore a mesh shirt and jounin vest with shorts, and an ushanka-like hat with a forehead protector sewn on. Sangogakure's symbol was more linear on metal than in the textbooks, and didn't really look like coral at all. Aki was drunk, very drunk, and still drinking as they set out of town.

"Isn't it a bit early for sake?" Tetsuko asked with gritted teeth. The alcohol ban in Wind Country hadn't been around for very long, but it was something his father strongly supported. It also forced him to think about Azami, and wonder what had happened to her. Kentsu had gone around asking about her but no one seemed to know; the Kazekage had allowed him to send missives to other villages, but no reply had come in yet. Kentsu had expressed hopes early in the trip that news would be waiting for them when they returned home, or even before - perhaps someone in the exams would know more about Azami.

"Never too early, boy!" The guide returned jovially.

Glaring at a tree, Tetsuko mumbled something bitter.

Much of the area around that first city was forested, and they traveled awhile on branches before reaching a river and walking across - Kentsu was very careful to stay in reach of his teammates for this part, less than confident in his ability to evenly release chakra. Aki began singing something nonsensically cheerful as she led them across yet another river, this time on a bridge. They soon reached a cliff and climbed halfway up and into a tunnel dimly lit by small teal orbs every three meters. Ten minutes in, their guide stopped suddenly and turned to look at Temari.

"My favorite route is the quickest, but it's a bit... unsettling."

"How long will it take?" Tetsuko asked.

Aki thought it over. "Two minutes, I would say."

"From here?" Mokuren checked, casting her a doubtful look. Aki nodded.

"What's unsettling about it?"

"Is that a yes, then?" Aki's dark eyes almost seemed to be dancing.

Sharing a glance with her teammates, Mokuren gave a hesitant nod.

With a mischevious smile, Aki tapped the orb above her. It flashed red and a section of the wall shivered briefly before disappearing, revealing a pitch-black square hole. "Who wants to go first? Anyone? Guess I will, then!"

"Wait-" It was too late; Aki had cannon-balled into the blackness, disappearing as she crossed the doorway. Mokuren and Kentsu exchanged exasperated looks while Tetsuko edged closer, trying to see. He tripped, however, and with a short cry fell through the doorway.

His teammates waited for a moment, hoping he would reappear; when he didn't, Mokuren took Kentsu's arm and stepped through, only briefly looking to Temari. The jounin appeared bored.

The faint light behind them disappeared completely, and she suspected genjutsu was to blame; Mokuren had only a second to register that the floor was wet and sharply slanted before she slipped and Kentsu was brought down with her.

They were sent sprawling down the tunnel, and every attempt to grip the walls with chakra merely slowed them down; Tetsuko had almost managed to slow to a stop when the other two smacked into him. They were nearly bouncing off of the slimy walls at this point, hitting and jabbing each other accidentally as they continued to barrel downwards, often knocking the wind out of each other mid-phrase, which resulted in extremely fragmented conversation.

"That a-!"

"You're so-"

"-fi-?"

"Tema-"

Tetsuko kept flapping around, which wasn't helping Mokuren's attempts to detangle them all. It took her a while to convey her intent to him, and eventually, despite the rolling and forced flips, they straightened out to the point they were properly sliding, feet pointed downwards, only connected by their hands. Within four seconds of this new arrangement, however, the tunnel abruptly turned upwards and sent them flying out; they were nearly blinded by the sudden appearance of light as they fell back down as a heap of bruised genin.

"Welcome to Sangogakure!" Aki proudly declared as Temari leapt out of the tunnel after them, landing gracefully. Mokuren jumped up, wiped off her clothes and tried to hide her embarrassment; the boys were more sluggish, and much more homicidal towards Aki, needing to be restrained as the four Sand shinobi were led towards the hotel they would be staying in while they were in Coral village.

Tetsuko had been partially right; the village hidden in the coral was half-underground and half-underwater, with an invisible barrier holding the water out. Little light made it through the water, but the view beyond amazing and startlingly clear, as the village buildings themselves were swathed in lights but just as diverse as those in Fire Country.

Upon reaching their rooms, the genin took a half hour to clean up and change clothing. They ate together at a nearby sukiyaki place, taking time to enjoy the food before Temari allowed them to wander off and explore.

Outside, many of the lights had been turned on, or had changed to less vibrant colors; Mokuren sensed Maitsu and her team, their chakra oddly unsettled, and after exchanging confused glances, Kentsu and Tetsuko followed her.

It become more apparent as they approached the wall of water that the barrier was dome-shaped, and that Maitsu was actually attacking someone. Mokuren would have said that she jumped into the middle of it and kicked Maitsu away from the Sangogakure boy because her old friend could potentially be removed from the exam for fighting outside, but that would have been a _lie_.

Maitsu swore rather viciously as she pinched her nostrils together to keep the blood from flowing out. Udonsu, a chubby boy with kind eyes and off-center green hair, tried to help her up. Her other teammate, Kirikama, looked upwards into the bucket hat that didn't quite contain his hair, as if thanking someone for the interruption.

"Who the heck are you?" The other person snarled, clutching their stomach as he stood up. Their hair was black, cut short. It laid flat, unlike Tetsuko's, contrasting with green eyes bright enough to show their color even in the darkness of Sango's outskirts.

Behind them stood his teammates, both of whom appeared to be female. To the left, a girl with wild brown hair and and a nose that had healed improperly; she wore the Coral hitai-ate around her neck on what appeared to be a pet collar; and wore long-sleeved mesh underneath a dark dress.

The girl on the right appeared to be albino, with white hair and purple eyes. She wore glasses, and kept her hair shoulder-length, very neat; she was quite pretty and wore a short kimono. The pattern looked to be of flowers, but Mokuren couldn't be certain.

"What's this all about?" Mokuren asked airily, ignoring the inquiry.

"It's none of your business." The wild-haired one sneered.

Mokuren hummed. "Probably not. So, are you three in the tournament?" She asked, sitting on the ground and leaning back. She noticed Kirikama shaking his head in the corner of her eye.

"Yes." The pretty girl replied, carefully taking a seat on a rock after sweeping her hand over it. She seemed much more friendly, even offering a tentative smile. "I'm sorry about that, a little argument blown out of hand..."

"That freak said-" The boy from the Coral started to say, but stopped.

"Freak?" Maitsu repeated in a kind of shriek, leaping up.

"None of that." Mokuren tutted disapprovingly. Maitsu's eye twitched as she stared at her, but she released a deep breath and took a step back, glaring towards the boy. "Now, what are your names?"

"I am Fukurou Yuri." The nicer girl answered, bowing her head. "It's nice to meet you."

"Aruva." The boy grunted.

"Okamiyama Shitori."

"I'm Tetsuko, and these are Mokuren and Kentsu." Tetsuko introduced hurriedly, perhaps to prevent his teammate from pulling another ramen shop incident.

"That's Kiri-kun, Soup-kun, and Chibi-chan." Mokuren added, pointing at each member of Maitsu's team. She had to have a little fun, at least.

"Those are not our actual names." Kirikama clarified when Yuri glanced at them nervously.

"Meh." Mokuren waved that away. "Is this going to be your first exams, querida?"

Yuri glanced around for a moment as if thinking Mokuren was looking at someone beside her. "Umm, no. We were eliminated in the first exam last time, though." She admitted, frowning at Shitori.

They continued to chat lightly for quite a while, until Yuri looked uncomfortable enough that Tetsuko dragged his teammate away. Maitsu's team had left earlier, but were staying in the same hotel and were laying around the foyer; while Tetsuko and Kentsu went up to bed, Mokuren was drawn into an argument about rats.

* * *

_**End Notes: This chapter was really disgusting before this round of edits, I'm really, really sorry.** _

_**Look up the tags Mokuren and Naruto fanfiction on tumblr for my art related to Sangogakure.** _


	15. Arc 3: The Beach

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Two, The Beach** _

"O-ha-YOU~!" Mokuren called out as she burst into her teammates' hotel room, yanking the door shut behind her.

"Wha's goin on?" The orange-haired boy asked groggily, sitting up and glaring her way. Tetsuko just rolled over. For whatever reason, they were using their sleeping bags rather than the hotel mats. Despite only arriving the night before, they had already spread a bunch of junk around.

"Raid the snack machines down the hall, did you?" She mused, picking her way through empty chip bags and soda cans. "Where did you get playing cards, and why wasn't I invited? So mean..." the brunette grumbled, sitting on Tetsuko's legs. He made some sort of muffled complaint, but didn't move.

"You'd cheat." Kentsu argued, lifting up a spilled cup and swirling it a bit before taking a swig.

"I would not," she frowned, unbraiding her hair to brush it, with the top hair ties still in.

"You did last time. What are you doing in here, anyway?"

Her hair was getting quite long. Mokuren wondered if she should cut it before the exam. "I'm bored, and no, I didn't cheat."

"You won _six times_ in a _row_. You definitely cheated."

"I really didn't, but it's pretty lame that you're such a sore loser." Scowling, she took a quick second to even out her pigtails.

"I'm not a sore loser! I just don't want to play with a cheater."

"Whatever."

"Geroff..." Tetsuko mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. Why didn't you guys sleep on the mats?" She asked, dragging those over and sitting down.

"Cold."

"Freezing, more like." Kentsu muttered. "Those blankets suck. Can we sue or something?"

Mokuren sighed. "We're staying here for free, so I doubt it."

There was a few moments of quiet in which Mokuren's ears began picking up chirping outside. She wondered what kind of bird lived in an underground city - pitiful ones, surely.

"Do we have to train today?" Tetsuko asked, curling up. "I don't want to."

"The exams start tomorrow. It's best to be as prepared as we can."

"People die in these exams." Kentsu added, standing up and stretching. He had fallen asleep without changing clothes.

"Great." Tetsuko grumbled. "Can you leave for a while so we can get ready?"

"I'm _already_ ready."

"You spilled soda on your shirt."

"Then I'll wear my coat over it." with that declaration, he snatched up his coat.

"Change." Mokuren wearily ordered, getting to her feet again.

Kentsu threw her a glare that clearly said, 'You're not the boss!' but nonetheless, he had a clean shirt on when Tetsuko let her back in. They had been given a map of training grounds in Sango, and Mokuren led them to several before deciding on one. The first ones had been unsettling and dark, even with the lights in the trees and on the buildings.

It wasn't much of a training session, though, just some kata and light sparring, strictly taijutsu. Although the first exam was traditionally written, there were no guarantees that they wouldn't need full reservoirs of chakra.

"What's Temari up to?" Kentsu asked at one point. Mokuren had to share a room with her after all and should have had some idea, but the kunoichi just shrugged.

"We're eating together at six. Until then, we're free."

"Cool." Kentsu grinned.

Tetsuko started chewing on his lip. "Is there..? Can we..?"

"No."

"What's going on?" Mokuren asked, feeling out of the loop.

"He has a crush on that white-haired girl from yesterday, and he wants to see her again." Kentsu deadpanned.

"Could you be quieter?" Tetsuko hissed, redness creeping up his neck.

"There's no one around." She blinked a few times. "Did you even talk to her last night?"

Tetsuko looked hurt, but Kentsu asked, "Can you magically find her, or whatever?" before he could say anything.

After casting him an odd glance for the hand gestures he'd used while saying 'magically', Mokuren closed her eyes and gave it a try. There were a lot of people around, much more than she was used to, and with a few exceptions they were all completely unfamiliar.She thought she could sense a chakra similar to Yuri's, and spent a moment trying to verify.

She was too far away, she decided, trying not to be frustrated with her memory. "This way, I think."

"What, really?" Kentsu blinked. "Now?"

"Why not? Your hair looks fine," she added to Tetsuko, who seemed to be trying to pat it down.

"We're stopping training here so Tetsu can try and get a girlfriend?"

"An alliance could prove useful in the exams," she answered evasively. It was really bothering her that she couldn't be sure of what Yuri's chakra had felt like.

Kentsu cringed. "This is a bad idea." He followed, though.

There didn't seem to be a direct path to 'Yuri' unless they took to the rooftops. Mokuren hesitated to do so in another shinobi village, so she tried to find the way on the streets.

Five minutes passed. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yes..?"

"...but?"

"I'm not entirely sure how to get there." Mokuren admitted.

Sighing, Kentsu rifled through his pockets and pulled out his copy of the map. "Alright, so where are we now..."

A group of six came around the corner behind them and she took notice of their Konoha hitai-ate. They appeared to be around her own age, likely other participants.

There were only two girls, both dark-haired with dark eyes, but with drastically different expressions and chakra. The girl farthest left appeared confident and aloof, with long hair in a single braid and no bangs, with chakra that felt distant and controlled.

The other wore her hair short and wild, with red face paint forming fangs across her cheeks. Her chakra was cheerful and bright, very similar to that of the medium-sized black dog beside her.

Of the four boys, one had flat pink hair; another, green hair and grey eyes; a third had spiky brown hair tucked away by a hair tie; and the final had long brown hair and startling white eyes - a Hyuuga, she guessed. Considering that they were two distinct teams, she found it unusual that they were walking together.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," she greeted them.

The neat girl raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded. There was some degree of response from each of them, and the pink-haired boy chirped, "Ohayou! Are you three in the tournament? Ah, are you lost?" he added, noticing Kentsu's map.

"Her fault." He immediately answered, shoving a finger Mokuren's way.

"I know how to get back to the hotel." Mokuren argued, trying not to sound like a sulking child.

"Where are you trying to go?" The green one asked, stepping up beside Kentsu and examining the map. Frowning, Kentsu jerked it away.

'That direction' probably wasn't a good answer - she looked foolish enough for getting lost. "Where are you going?"

"The beach," the one with a ponytail yawned. "She wants to play volleyball." He pointed at the girl with the braid, whose lips turned downward slightly.

"Sounds like fun. Can we join you?" Mokuren gave Tetsuko an apologetic look, and he replied with a shrug.

"I-"

"Of course!" the pink-haired one enthused, cutting off his teammate.

Introductions were made along the way, and Mokuren started brainstorming nicknames. The first girl's name was Sarutobi Natora, and the one with the dog was Inuzuka Ayame; green-hair was Aihara Kira; pink-hair, Rock Aida; and the last two were Nara Koyama and Hyuuga Hibito.

Many of the cities lights were white at this point, and they briefly stopped at a shop for snacks to silence complaints of hunger. It seemed the Konoha teams had arrived early to Sango and regularly visited the beach, for there was no hesitation at corners and they seemed to know many of the citizens.

The beach itself wasn't quite what Mokuren had expected; it was within a large domed building, brightly lit, with the ceiling painted like the sky. The saltwater moved as if there were a tide, and she wondered how that worked. The volleyball areas were all empty, and some of the nets were ripped; Natora took the lead, looking less like an ice sculpture with every step.

The perfect court was located near a small patch of trees, very close to the water. Unfortunately, it seemed that the ball, normally located in a basket beside the net, was missing; Aida started a search of the other courts while Tetsuko began making sand castles, and Hibito refused point-blank to use his byakugan to check the tree branches for the missing ball.

Mokuren spent a moment debating between joining the search, and building sand castles. Somehow, though, she wound up chatting with Ayame in the shade, Kokoda - her black dog - between them.

"You're so spoiled." Ayame lamented, scratching her ears.

Kokoda yipped, rolling over so that Mokuren could rub her belly.

"That's not funny!"

"What did she say?"

"Nothing." Her scowl kept turning into a pout and back. Smiling slightly, Mokuren left Kokoda alone and sat back.

Whining, the dog plopped itself across its master's lap. "Ooh, I think they found one." Natora was heading back now, a bounce in her step. "Hopefully, more than one. Kira popped two of them last week, we had to buy replacements - the person that owns this place kept following us around everywhere." She shivered, shaking her head.

The rest of the afternoon was pleasant and relaxing, with the exception of a half hour period of time in which Natora and Kira became almost frenzied, scoring so many points against Aida and Kentsu that the two seemed to have given up. Ayame convinced Mokuren to join then, and she managed to even things up. Natora seemed to take that very personally, spouting insults and accusations after a particularly close miss, at which point Mokuren decided on the nickname 'Koneko-chan', which made her even more livid.

Koyama had to interfere then and calm her down. Hibito and Tetsuko were both swimming at this point, luckily for them; Ayame and Kokoda had been howling with laughter for quite some time, and much of Natora's killing intent was aimed their way. Soon after that, a cart selling food came rolling buy and they had lunch together, discussing the weather and the pressure the ocean must be exerting on Sango's barrier at this depth.

It hadn't been a very productive day, Mokuren later reflected, but it had been a lot of fun.

* * *

_**End Note: I meant 'Mokuren' and 'Naruto fanfic' as the tumblr tags, I think. Sorry, editing and this storm are tiring me out.** _


	16. Arc 3: Mayhem

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Three, Mayhem** _

"This is it. This is our year. We're going to _win_."

"Could you shut up already?" Kentsu grumbled, too quietly for her to actually hear.

For the last half hour, he and his team had been waiting in the assigned room for the rest of the teams to arrive because Tetsuko had fretted enough to force them to go early. Temari had approved as well, and Kentsu hadn't argued at the time, but now - now, he was really, _really_ bored, too bored to even be nervous. The woman beside him looked to be an adult, even though she was clearly still a genin. Her hair was long and wild, and she was rather plump - she had been kind enough introducing herself, but he seriously wished she could just be quiet.

"Hiobi, seriously. Calm down." Her teammate plead, sounding exhausted. Mokuren made a tisking sort of noise, earning herself harsh looks from the team that had just sat down beside her.

"I suppose you think you'll pass on your first try?" one of the boys sneered. The three on Mokuren's side wore Ishigakure hitai-ate, and the team on Kentsu's side appeared to be from Sango.

"Well, yeah. Who would go _expecting_ to fail?" she pointed out, and Tetsuko, seated in the middle, tried not to snicker.

"Think you're so smart, don't-"

"Oi, Mokuren!" Maitsu scowled, taking the seat in front of her and spinning it around.

"Chibi-chan."

Her eye twitched slightly. "Treat your elders with more respect," she lectured, running her hands through short hair.

"We're not very old." the boy argued.

"Shut up, I'm on your side." Maitsu insisted.

Kentsu snorted. "Like hell you are."

"Shove it, pinky."

"It's not pink!"

Tetsuko rubbed his ears, wondering why Kentsu had to be so loud. After a brief staring contest, Maitsu and Kentsu turned away from each other in a huff. Things were much quieter after that, almost eerily quiet, and he found himself trying to make conversation to keep from worrying about the exam they would soon take. "So, how many times have you taken the exams?" he asked the team on Kentsu's side.

"Far too many times." A member of that Sangogakure team mumbled. Tetsuko kind of thought he looked like a pirate, with long hair and a scraggly mustache.

"Did you ever meet somebody named Azami?" Kentsu asked them unexpectedly.

Taken aback, he started to say, "I don't remember any Suna nin by that-"

"She's not from the Sand. Have you met anyone named Azami with purple hair, from anywhere, even outside the exams?"

He exchanged a puzzled look with his blonde teammate, but their third member, Hiobi, was quick to shake her head. "I'd remember anybody with purple hair."

"She was pretty young, and a chunin already." The urgency in his tone prompted them to think more carefully.

"We skipped an exam a couple years ago," the blonde girl recalled. "but it's really rare for someone to pass on their first try. Maybe we just didn't see her."

Kentsu scowled, but looked past his teammates to the Ishigakure team. "And you lot? Purple hair, name of Azami? Have you heard of her?"

"Don't think so." One of them answered. All three members of that team were male, and two looked identical enough to be twins. They had long hair in a strange cut just above their shoulders, and the third person was bald with watery blue eyes.

"Think harder!" He demanded.

"Why? Who the hell is she?"

Frustrated, Kentsu looked to Tetsuko. The other boy shook his head and explained rather vaguely, "We ran into her on a mission once."

The bald one, as the one nearest to them, leaned back to get a look at Kentsu without Mokuren and Tetsuko in the way. "Sorry, kid, but I really can't think of anybody like that." He told him, seeming sincere.

"When did you guys have a mission you could meet foreigners on?" Kirikama asked, one eyebrow raised. "The only C-rank you went on was a total..." he sat up straighter, understanding and further curiosity lighting his eyes as he trailed away. The other teams looked to be waiting for him to finish, and Mokuren laid her head back and stared at the ceiling, face blank.

"It was that one, yeah." Tetsuko confirmed, slightly uncomfortable.

"Before or..?"

"Towards the end."

One of the twins moved his chair closer. "Are you going to explain why you need to find this Azami any time soon?"

More looks were traded, and they shook their heads. As they each had a different reason for finding her, it was generally better not to share.

"Well... if she did pass in one try, then she must have been pretty impressive. Somebody will remember her." The blonde from Sango told them with a pitying look.

Plenty of people had filed in while they talked, taking all of the chairs and filling up the space to stand in. There were five more minutes of lighter topics and questions about what usually happened in the first exam before a tall woman with well-cared for black hair cut short and red eyes entered. "Is this everyone?" She called, effectively silencing the room. "Mmm, only a couple of the teams that signed up are missing - well, they're late," she shrugged, her eyes sweeping over the room again. "Alrighty. My name is Natsumi, and I will be your proctor for the first exam. The room is this way, don't push or shove..."Natsumi hummed, leading the way.

Somehow, that was a disappointing introduction. Standing up, Tetsuko hesitantly looked over the other participants. Yuri had made it, he noticed. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or upset about that; it meant he would be seeing more of her, but it might also mean he would have to compete against her.

The room Natsumi had led them to did not contain any chairs or desks, or much of anything - it was a huge space, completely devoid of furnishings or color. She directed them to file to the back to make plenty of room for the other participants.

"I thought this was going to be a paper test." Kentsu hissed.

"The first test is _traditionally_ a written exam." Mokuren recited with emphasis. "I wonder what-"

"START!" Natsumi shouted as the lights went out, and all hell broke lose. Mokuren fell immediately, clutching her head, as lights flashed neon-bright in various colors, just briefly enough to show outlines and blind Kentsu before a different color would show up, seemingly brighter. A wave of smells, ranging from cloying, flowery smells to acridic bile attacked, and a cacophony of sounds soon followed.

Bird calls and awful, unfamiliar screams filled the air, loud enough to hurt. It was all Kentsu could do to stay standing and resist the instinct to curl in on himself, although he tried to cover his ears and pinch his nose.

He tried to understand what was going on by looking around when the lights briefly made it possible, but the outlines were so vague.

Something yanked him down - he almost lashed out, before a flash of light showed a giant arm above him and Mokuren beside him. Next he saw of her, she was standing up unsteadily, using another participant's shoulder for support.

She shouted something but he couldn't tell what, not over everything else. Covering his ears again, Kentsu realized that he was bleeding. He couldn't feel the pain yet, but everything started to sound quieter, more distant, and he felt his heart beat more loudly than anything.

Mokuren reappeared, appearing to teleport ahead every few feet in the lighting. Most of the other genin were on their knees by now, and the few exceptions, like Mokuren, were clearly off-balance. Dropping in front of him with a painful thud, the brunette started tapping his arm with varying force.

He couldn't understand for the life of him why she chose now to become a total weirdo, but at least it was something to focus on besides the pain and smells and lights. Rap, tap, rap, pause. tap, rap, tap, tap, pause. Rap, tap, rap, rap, tap. Tap, rap tap, tap.

She looked frustrated and annoyed, and began rapping on his forehead protector. Thunk, tap, thunk, thunk. Tap, thunk, tap, thunk, tap. Tap, thunk, thunk, tap. Funnily enough, that rhythm felt familiar. She repeated it again, and he tried to remember - morse code. She was spelling out his name in wabun code.

They were suddenly sent sprawling as a wave of heat hit his back. Something had slashed him, and adrenaline cut through the fog. Staggering up, he pulled out a kunai. He didn't think he could use chakra in this situation, but maybe if he was lucky the attacker would walk into the blade. It was fairly dark, after all, and he could barely believe anything could attack in these circumstances. What was _this_ supposed to test?

Something came in from the side, knocking him over. He lashed out blindly, missing. A moment later he was glad of that - this person was not an enemy monster. Kentsu didn't know her name, but she was on Hiobi's team. Something grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up - Tetsuko. There was something about him that set Kentsu on edge, though, and he pulled away, reaching for his weapon.

Mokuren had sat up at some point, and she asked something. Tetsuko nodded, offering her a hand. In Kentsu's next view of them, they were both upright, reaching for him. As they helped him up, he understood what was different about them - they weren't unbalanced, weren't clutching their noses, didn't fumble for him in the dark - they could see exactly where he was.

Chakra surged through his hands and for a moment he was sure he had been tricked, that attackers had imitated his teammates and he'd fallen for it. Then everything was suddenly clear, and he was once again in the brightly-lit white room, smelling nothing but sweat. Genjutsu, all of that had been genjutsu. Touching his ear, he found that the blood at least had been real. All around him, genin were thrashing about, still trapped in illusion. Many had gotten out, though, and moved to stand against the walls.

Tetsuko's mouth moved, but Kentsu couldn't hear anything. The three of them walked over to where Yuri stood, and she smiled and spoke. Kentsu tried to mime covering his ears to explain what was wrong, before he remembered that everyone else could hear and explained out loud. It was a strange feeling, having his throat vibrate but not hearing the words.

With a frown, Yuri turned and called over a stranger, gesturing at Kentsu. Mokuren seemed to object to whatever she was saying, but Tetsuko looked relieved. The stranger stepped up to him and set her hands over his ears, healing them. There was pain, and then a pop, and suddenly he could hear Tetsuko talking. He winced at the pain the noise brought.

"Your ears will be sensitive for a while, but they should be fine. Are there other injuries?" She asked. Even though she had just helped him, Kentsu had the sense she was looking down on him.

She looked to be a Sangogakure jounin, and after shaking his head - the slice on his back had been part of the illusion - he asked, "When did you get here? Are you helping to proctor the exam?"

"I've been here for ten minutes - since the proctor was arrested, actually. This exam was supposed to be written, as usual, but apparently Natsumi had her own ideas." Wrinkling her nose, she added, "I'm supposed to be the proctor for the second exam, but that will have to be put on hold until we decide whether we will accept this as the first exam and choose qualifications for passing or have another first exam." She sighed. "For now, I've been told to hold everyone for another half hour and then release everyone from the illusion and send them out. Your team will receive further information with two days." With that, she walked away.

"Just my luck that something like this would happen." Hiobi grumbled, looking miserable. Kentsu wasn't sure when she had gotten there.

"They arrested the proctor for changing the test?"

"These tests are very important!" Shitori, Yuri's teammate, was quick to lecture. "If she'd at least had a rubric to decide who passes then it might have been alright, but she didn't have anything like that."

"This is going to look bad on Sango." Yuri added, fretting.

"This is only the second time Hidden Coral has hosted the exam, isn't it?" Mokuren checked.

"Mmm, we can't really afford mistakes like this."

Political stuff - wrinkling his nose slightly, Kentsu turned away from the conversation to see whom among the teams against the wall he actually knew.

The two Konoha teams were sitting together, with Natora polishing weapons and the other five playing a card game.

Someone in the middle of the room screamed and Kentsu grabbed at his ears, wincing. He eventually just sat down and listened to Yuri and Mokuren discuss the exams while massaging his ears, spending the whole half-hour like that. They were allowed to leave after that, and went straight to the hotel. Temari was there and had already heard about the proctor; she suspected that they would not repeat the exam, and instead judge pass or fail from the way participants reacted to the illusion.

She was partially right - the next day, they were called in as a team to see their performance from start to finish with the three judges, all unfamiliar. Two were women and one was a man, and they introduced themselves as Amaya, Chiharu and Manabu. Seated before them, they watched as the video started with the genin walking in. circles appeared around Kentsu, Mokuren and Tetsuko as they entered on screen. There was sound on this video, but it was hushed.

"You fell immediately." Manabu noted, looking at the Mokuren on the screen. "We have been using that as a point of reference for the beginning of the genjutsu all day, actually. Why did you fall?"

Looking slightly mortified, Mokuren mumbled, "I don't know."

Kentsu on the screen was frozen, but Tetsuko started to stumble away from them. He jumped away from imagined attacks, falling down but quickly standing back up. Mokuren fumbled around, managed to grab Kentsu and pull him down and Kentsu kicked her in the head. Amaya snickered lightly and Kentsu glared at her. Tetsuko, three or so yards away, put his hands together and released himself from the illusion.

"You were the first to understand," Manabu mused, "but why did you not go to your teammates first?"

Tetsuko's face was a telltale red as he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. On-screen, Tetsuko noticed his teammates - Mokuren had just stood up and yelled his name - but went to Yuri and released her, explaining the genjutsu quickly and helping her find Shitori. Mokuren began stumbling around, looking for Tetsuko, but she couldn't seem to find him. She fell twice on her way back to Kentsu, and as she started tapping Chiharu asked, "What were you doing?"

"Wabun code." Mokuren answered shortly.

Tetsuko started to head over, but the door to the room burst open suddenly and three jounin entered, accosting Natsumi. Tetsuko managed to avoid that discussion, leaving it to Yuri, and on the other side of the room a genin released some kind of wind attack on an invisible enemy, blasting away many genin, including Kentsu and Mokuren. Kentsu leapt right back up - at least compared to the reaction time of the others affected - and pulled out a weapon. Another genin used a wind attack, knocking a blonde genin into Kentsu, and the boy flailed around as he fell. Tetsuko arrived soon, trying to help Kentsu, but his hand was slapped away.

"What are you asking there?" Manabu asked Mokuren.

"I asked if he could hear me." In the video, Tetsuko nodded and offered her a hand. He released her from the illusion and she took a moment to pull something out of her bag.

"What are you doing then?"

"I'm not sure." she said, leaning in slightly. Kentsu was standing, now, and rubbing at his ears. Amaya stopped the video, then, and asked them to wait for a few minutes while they went outside to discuss. Tetsuko looked quite panicked.

"Is that it? They're deciding now?"

Even though he was looking to Mokuren, Kentsu answered, "Looks like it. Hey, why didn't you tell me you were the first out of it?"

Tetsuko shrugged, his face going almost green. "It doesn't matter. I shouldn't have... Why did I... we're going to fail." he muttered, dropping his face into his hands. Silence pervaded the room, and Kentsu's stomach began to churn as he rethought their actions and had to agree that they didn't have much of a chance.

"It's my fault." Mokuren mumbled just before the door opened and Amaya stepped back in.

"We've decided." she said, and Kentsu bit his lip. "You pass."

"W-what?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Don't ask me why, I voted fail." Amaya shrugged, gesturing at them to leave.

"You each attempted to do something about the state you were in and did, eventually, release one another. None of you passed out or harmed yourselves. That's a lot more than many can say." Chiharu added the last part under her breath with a roll of her eyes.

It was a close call, then, but they had made it through. Still, they didn't talk on the way back, embarrassed and ashamed of their own failings.

* * *

_**End Notes: I'm still happy with the thought I put into this. A brief clarification: t** _ _**he genjutsu was meant to overwhelm many senses, not just the five we talk about usually but balance as well, and for several reasons Mokuren is particularly sensitive to overstimulation.** _


	17. Arc 3: Swamp

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Four, Swamp** _

"Ohayou, Mokuren-chan!" Rock Aida called, pushing through the crowd to reach them.

"Yo," she replied distractedly, checking her bag once again.

"Ohayou." Tetsuko mumbled, disgruntled.

"Did Ayame's team pass?" Mokuren asked him, looking up briefly.

"Just barely. I guess they impressed the judges by being so casual about everything. They called it 'adaptability'." Aida snickered.

"What do you call it?"

"Laziness!" Kira answered with a laugh, appearing from behind some Ishigakure shinobi. "Hibito's the worst, somehow, even though he's a Hyuuga."

"Hey, Koyama wouldn't do a thing if Natora didn't make him."

"You can't prove that!"

Kentsu slapped an insect on his neck and grimaced. He wasn't looking forward to this exam at all - traditionally, it was about survival, and it looked like it would take place within a gated forest in this humid, hot-as-hell, bug-filled area. A part of him suspected that they had somehow ended up above ground - surely there couldn't be this many flying insects in an underwater city? - but he was sure someone would have said something.

None of them had been pleased with their first exam, and they really hoped the next one would work out for the better. Despite the screw-up, or perhaps because of it, a rather lot of teams had passed; there were significantly fewer people, but far, far too many remained for the third exam - the only definite exam. A lot of people would have to be eliminated here.

Increasingly ill at ease, Kentsu jumped when a whistle rang out.

The jounin from the other day announced that she was the proctor, for those who couldn't tell already, and that her name was Kara. She outlined the rules - they would spend a week in the forest, and passing outside of the designated area would disqualify you even if you were forced. At the end of the week, an exit would appear in the exact center for five minutes at 23:55.

Anyone who did not make it through would fail. Anyone who died would fail. Anyone whose teammate died would fail. And each team would be split up before they entered, going through their individually assigned gates. They would not receive any formal punishment for killing members of another team, although she did add that vengeful family members were always a possibility.

Their progress would not be monitored and nobody would come to save them if they yelled. Summons were permitted, but if she found out that anyone had hid out in another dimension for any duration of the exam they would be disqualified - Kentsu hadn't even known people could do that. Being separated wasn't a part of any of their plans and he briefly wondered if this would be too much for them, if they should just give up. He shook the thought off.

"Mokuren," he hissed, "What do we do?"

"Make some friends, be careful. It sounds like we'll need to find the center first, and I will try to focus on that. I'll find you on the last day, do what you have to until then. If you run into anything you can't handle, flare your chakra. I will be there as soon as I can." Her voice was stiff, and Kentsu wasn't sure whether that was out of worry or annoyance - maybe both.

木

They weren't allowed to know others' gate assignments, and clones of Kara led each participant to their gate. Though they seemed to be earth clones, Mokuren didn't doubt that they could handle genin. She could sense that Tetsuko and Kentsu's gates weren't too far from each other, and hoped they could stick together.

The whistle sounded again, and ten seconds later the gates shut behind them. Many people immediately leapt into action, attempting to take out those at nearby gates. Mokuren took a moment to try and see if water-walking could be applied to the sinkhole-like ground to keep her toes from getting wet - nights would likely be cold even here, and she'd be damned if she was taken down by pneumonia.

Focusing around her, she noted that the closest gate to her right had been Hyuuga Hibito's, and to the left there was an unknown person with large chakra reservoirs. That person was already fighting someone, and she predicted they would win quickly.

The large trees all around were a great deal more solid than the earth, and she took to the branches. Before long, she was forced to duck as shuriken went for her head. Hibito's byakugan was activated already, and she approached more slowly, her hands up in the typical nonviolent style.

"What are you doing?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The bulging veins along his eyes were a little disturbing.

"Making an offer. Would you like to work together in this exam?"

The eyebrow twitched. "Why?"

"I'm sure you are aware of the advantages of a team in this kind of situation."

"And your real teammates?"

"'I intend to meet them on the final day." Mokuren answered. He continued to ask questions, but they were rudely interrupted by an Ishigakure shinobi - one of the three that had sat beside her before the first exam. Both had been aware of his approach and easily defeated him, but that still seemed to turn things in Mokuren's favor - Hibito agreed.

Across the arena, Kentsu was not having nearly as easy a time. He had barely had a moment to himself since entering; an attacker had arrived within a minute, punching him into a tree. He had been thrown around several more times, and mocked, before his opponent had gotten a little too close and Kentsu had been able to burn her arm, and, while she was distracted, knock her out.

She wore Iwagakure's symbol, and he barely had a moment to dwell on his new bruises before another attack came from a Kirigakure shinobi, very young. They traded blows for barely a minute before a third genin joined the fray, and then a fourth - Kentsu escaped, deciding with some reluctance that there was little point in that fight.

He attempted to find a hiding spot, but triggered another shinobi's traps and barely avoided a beheading. The owner soon came for him, but he was fairly weak. Kentsu took all of his supplies and managed to slip by the threeway battle to throw the kid past the gates. He hadn't been able to bear the idea of abandoning the kid to die, even if he felt kind of wrong in forcibly disqualifying him.

That questionable deed nearly led to his own forced disqualification when a group of two from Sangogakure, one a woman with far too many blades and the other a puppet user, came after him and cornered him in the branches along the edge. He was barely able to escape the attack that would have sent him flying out of the arena, and had a moment where he thought about getting Mokuren's help - but, no, he could see a way out.

The woman was vicious and eager to tear him to shreds, and that was quite distracting, but her attacks were slow. Her partner was less confident and his puppet was made of wood - it was terribly humid, not ideal at all, but a flaming kunai still put it temporarily out of commission, long enough for him to run.

Tetsuko wasn't very far away, but he had it pretty easy. Almost from the moment the gates had closed, he had been hiding in a tree hollow, musical instrument ready in case he needed to redirect anyone.

Very few people passed, all in a great hurry, for the first hour; none noticed him, or even stopped to look around. He started to play a game of cards against himself to keep from growing bored, and at one point slipped far enough away to lay a false trail to another hollow with traps, to make it easy for him to weave an illusion around there. It was actually a very roomy hollow, and he barely had to worry about cramping up. He supposed he could probably hide another person in here, if he cleared out some of the dead grass and sticks that cluttered up a good portion of the space. Still, he had no intention of leaving at least until the second day, by which time there would surely be fewer enemies, and he began to doze off as the lights dimmed.

Then a scream rent the air, and something about it was familiar. Tetsuko was pretty sure it had to be some kind of trap, though, a false scream for any idiots. He heard it again, though, and sobbing... Peering out of the tree, he could see a flash of white on the ground, far over. _Yuri._

Grabbing for his tool pouch and his flute, he jumped as quietly as he could to land above the pace where she sat, crying. A shinobi woman stood in front of her, struggling not to laugh. Her purple hair momentarily concerned him, but this woman looked nothing like Azami; she was taller, more muscular, and her hair was much more curly, even if the skin tone was very similar. She wore a Kumogakure hitai-ate, and he barely hesitated to string a kunai and loop the throw so it would come from a different direction - the shinobi dodged it easily, but hadn't seen the wire and believed that he was to the northeast, leaping up that way.

Quickly, he jumped to Yuri and shrugged her over his shoulder, hurrying away while trying to play his flute a little to make the purple-haired kunoichi believe she had seen a flash of something. Hopefully, the music wouldn't draw suspicion or too much attention; he didn't have the time to figure out the right volume.

Yuri wasn't moving, but she didn't seem to be injured. She was still sobbing, almost imperceptibly. It took him a few tries to carry her up into the hollow, and he was very aware of the sounds of moving leaves and the chirping of birds that could hide an enemy's footsteps. Luck was on his side, though; they made it in safely. He had no time to clear the space and he was forced to set her almost in his lap.

"Yuri?" Tetsuko mumbled, gently lifting her head up. Her eyes were blank, empty but for tears. Panicking, he forced chakra into her system and she straightened up, hitting her head.

"What's- why- where's Shitori? What have you done with her body?!"

"Calm down. It was an illusion, shhh..." ensuring that his flute was on hand in case anyone had heard that yell, he awkwardly attempted to pat her comfortingly on the shoulder. He kind of doubted it was the right place to pat, but comforting wasn't his area. Actually, he couldn't think of anyone from Suna who was good at that.

She didn't say anything else until her breathing had slowed. "Why did you help me?"

"Eh, well, I, ah..." he really hoped it was too dark for her to tell that he was blushing, but the look on her face suggested otherwise.

"Well, regardless of why... thank you." Yuri told him.

"A-are you injured?" He asked, looking away.

"Just my pride. Tricked by an illusion." Wrinkling her nose, she moved so that she was not directly facing Tetsuko anymore. "What is this..? An egg?"

Hibito and Mokuren had managed to set up a shelter after fending off another couple opponents and spent almost an hour frowning at each other on and off, with Mokuren having to expend a great deal of effort on _not_ making strange faces before someone approached. Their path was directed straight at the entrance to the tunnel and after briefly looking in that direction, Mokuren turned again to Hibito.

Activating his byakugan, he checked the stranger out. "Male, maybe fifteen. Sangogakure. Doesn't look eager for a fight, definitely knows where we are."

Sighing, the Hyuuga boy stood up. "I'll go."

She nodded, and the instant he was out of sight she pulled a book out of her bag, positioning herself closer to the light source they had set up. The plot wasn't particularly involving, and she could sense that Hibito and the stranger were only talking, and neither seemed upset. Mokuren resisted the temptation to check her weapons or escape route; his byakugan was still activated, and if he caught her doing something like that it would likely damage what trust they had built up.

Fifteen pages of awful incomprehensible romance later, Hibito led the stranger into the tunnel and she sat up and set her book down.

"My name is Danko Kanemaru," the stranger introduced himself, bowing.

"Mokuren," she returned, taking note of Kanemaru's dark red hair, cropped close, and his friendly, innocent blue eyes. She wasn't actually sure she'd ever seen eyes that blue; they were the kind of blue eyes she imagined the Hokage had. Nonetheless, after Hibito explained that Kanemaru would be joining their team and the boy sat down, Mokuren did her best to communicate with a Look that she was not impressed that Hibito had fallen for a pretty face so easily.

Mokuren was left with just that theory when it became clear that they hadn't met before, but since Kanemaru had playing cards, she let it slide.


	18. Arc 3: Trust

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Five, Trust** _

There was an actual egg in Tetsuko's tree hollow, and he hadn't noticed in all the hours there that the mess was even a nest. Thankfully, Yuri said they hadn't harmed it and she recognized it as an owl's. Her family had a summoning contract with a specific species of owl and she was confident she could convince the parent to share the space. No bird ever arrived, though, and at some point in the night Yuri summoned an owl to go and investigate. It was quick to report back with the news that there were three dead owls nearby, apparently killed by kunai.

Horrified and distressed, it took Yuri a moment to decide to give the egg to her summon. "It probably won't make it, though," she told Tetsuko after her owl was gone. She was quiet for a while, her head bowed, until she looked up suddenly, her red eyes determined. "What kind of person kills things for fun?"

Tetsuko knew what she was getting at. "They're probably not around here anymore," he protested, but she had him out of that tree before he had a chance to make his case. The 'sky' offered them scant lighting and they nearly missed the branch outside, forced to scrabble for a hold. "This should wait until morn-"

"No waiting."

"How will you-"

"I'll just know, okay? You can go back if you want to, but I'm not letting this go."

When she put it that way, he was tempted to let her go alone. She was a kunoichi after all, and capable of handling herself - but it was very dark and Yuri wasn't in her right mind. "No, I'll help."

They trampled and crashed through the darkness, constantly expecting to draw fire because of the racket they couldn't quite help, until Yuri summoned an owl to help guide them. She was visibly exhausted by this use of chakra, prompting Tetsuko to feel even more uneasy about this venture. Still, he kept quiet.

Yuri noticed in time to pull Tetsuko and herself away from a water-based attack. "Konbanwa, idiots." A deep voice greeted them, seeming to come from every direction. "It's past your bedtime, isn't it?"

Without a direction to face, the two moved to stand back-to-back, their weapons out.

"Inter-village cooperation - how _cute_." Another voice, much higher, cooed. The echo suggested that they were suddenly in a cave rather than a humid forest, and a chill crept up Tetsuko's spine.

" _Seriously_?" He huffed.

Yuri replied with a distasteful noise, and they released the illusion simultaneously. After a brief shuffle to decide who would go after which, Yuri jumped up and north and Tetsuko dove into the bushes to the south. "What were you even trying to do?" He asked flatly, once the two had been tied up.

"Sh-shut up!" One whined. They were both boys, surprisingly young to be in this exam, both from the Hidden Leaf. Tetsuko wasn't sure what to do with them, as Yuri wouldn't even consider that they might be the bird-killers.

"Who do you... who do you think you are, anyway?" The second faltered, his eyes drifting above Yuri's head. Tetsuko barely repressed a sigh before answering, "I think I'm Tetsuko from the Sand, and I also think -" here he broke off, grabbing the small kunoichi behind him out of the air and performing the appropriate rope-binding jutsu to attach her to her teammates, "-that the three of you need a lot more work."

Now they had three Konoha shinobi and still no idea what to do with them. "Leave them here?" Yuri suggested.

Tetsuko shook his head. "Someone's out here killing for fun," he reminded her.

"Throwing them over the fence - Hey!" Yuri had tossed shuriken at the new voice the instant she heard it, but had missed.

"Kentsu?" Tetsuko said, startled to see him. His teammate had lost his coat and his mesh shirt was ripped. Slice decorated his arm, including a new one from a shuriken he hadn't quite dodged.

"Are you sure this is your teammate?" Yuri was wary of him, despite the injury that suggested reality. Tetsuko had to agree that it was unlikely Kentsu could sneak up on him.

It took him a moment to decide on a question. "What's your favorite food?"

After staring back blankly for a moment, 'Kentsu' sighed and plopped onto the ground, his features gradually changing and black seeping through his hair as it flattened."I knew it was a bad idea, but at least it gave me an opening." The Sunagakure shinobi had taken off his fisherman's hat, for the first time in what might have been years, and looked to be sweating bullets in his three-layered outfit.

"You didn't even try." Tetsuko muttered.

Kirikama shrugged. "Have you seen Maitsu? The real Kentsu's over that way," he added, gesturing east. "Can't seem to catch a break, the poor guy. He did drop some kid over the fence, though. So that's really a viable option - although admittedly he almost got thrown himself, afterwards."

"Thanks, then? And no, I haven't seem much of anyone."

"Ah. I found Udonsu a while ago, we're meeting back up at dawn. He was going to look for a few other people, that Aruva guy was one of them."

Yuri perked up at that. "What about Shitori?"

"Crazy hair? If I see her, I'll invite her."

"Invite? What are you planning?"

"I want to create a group - the larger it is, the safer everyone in it will be." Kirikama predicted. "We'll be able to set up a better watch system and eliminate more difficult competition. Also, if this exam is judged anything like the last, we can argue that we showed chunin-level skills in cooperation, and prove that we are aware that the path of a shinobi is about much more than fighting aimlessly. It's about protecting your beliefs, your friends, your village, your world." The normally apathetic boy looked quite passionate about this. "Will you join us?"

"I..." Yuri started, breaking off to frown at Tetsuko.

"We'll think about it." Tetsuko answered for them. "We need to deal with them, first."

"Right." Kirikama gave them directions to the meeting point and a better explanation of Kentsu's location before heading west.

They did eventually throw the genin out of the arena, careful not to be seen before separating to approach the place Kirikama had cited as Kentsu's temporary shelter. They had hesitated to follow Kirikama's suggestions to the letter, but with little choice Tetsuko had decided to trust in him - Mokuren, after all, had spoken positively of him before, and Tetsuko could almost remember a day that he had barely avoided failing an assignment because of Kirikama's help.

"Kentsu," Tetsuko called, once he was close enough to see a small blur of orange. It moved slightly - awake, then. "When's my birthday?"

"Seriously?" The other mumbled groggily. "October, right?"

"Yours is in June." He offered, moving closer and helping his teammate up. "Next time, though, try and remember the day."

Kentsu wasn't at all pleased to hear that Tetsuko had teamed up with Yuri. "We nearly failed the last exam because you rushed to save her first. How many times is this going to happen?" He hissed the moment she left to use the 'bathroom'.

He had used fire to burn out additional space in the hollow to allow the three of them to uncomfortably sit, and was glad for a chance to stretch his legs, at least.

"She's really helped out." Tetsuko replied defensively. "And it's not like I went looking for her, we just... ran into each other." He didn't think it would help his case to explain what _had_ happened.

Kentsu snorted before dropping that topic. "How did you know where I was, anyway?"

"Kirikama." Tetsuko briefly answered, still miffed, but after a few moments of sulking he went on to explain the strange boy's plan. Yuri came back before he was quite finished, and waited patiently.

"Are we going to meet him there?" She asked the moment he was done.

Kentsu shot her a reproachful look, Tetsuko noticed, and glares were exchanged. "Let's vote on it," the black-haired genin suggested. "Raise your hands if you think we should."

Three hands flew up - total agreement, as much as Kentsu seemed to regret voting when he saw that Yuri had also. Tetsuko hoped they were right to trust in Kirikama.

"We will find the killer, though." Yuri murmured, shifting position.

Across the arena, Mokuren woke with a start. She had let Kanemaru take first watch, and it was already Hibito's. She could sense two people with dampened chakra approaching ad Hibito didn't seem to be doing anything about them. Actually, he almost seemed to be asleep, but she liked to think he was more responsible than that. Unwillingly, she remembered the desert, Ayano, Zoruna...

Outside, Hibito calmly stood and reentered the tunnel. "Are you alright?" He asked Mokuren, and she barely blinked.

"Fine." She answered, when the question made its way in. "Ah, are you going to handle..?" As he shrugged, she realized that something felt off about the earth around them. A moment later, chakra threads throughout the dirt came to life and the earth shook violently. She barely had a moment to share a look with Hibito, whose Byakugan had reactivated, before the ceiling collapsed. She used kawarimi to escape, latching chakra onto a tree branch, nearly falling off. Hibito landed beside her a moment later, a disoriented Kanemaru over his shoulder.

"Whasgoin' on?"

"Attack." Hibito grunted.

"Great, I'mma sleep... Ouch!" Hibito had used rope jutsu to bind Kanemaru to the tree.

"Sweet dreams." Mokuren told him. She had some doubts about Kanemaru's loyalties that a fight might have lain to rest, but working with Hibito was easier for now.

Their opponents were the twins from Ishigakure, and they seemed unsurprised by Hibito and Mokuren's reappearance. Mokuren took a moment to wonder about their haircut - really, why were there such angles? - before saying, "Konbanwa."

"Mmm." The one to the left agreed, and the one to the right rolled his eyes. "Maa, if we're being polite, my name is Hideki and this is Saro."

"Mokuren, Enpitsu."

"It's nice to meet you." He smiled. "Or, I wish it were. Unfortunately... you're in our way." With that, Saro smashed his hand into the ground and the world shook again, forcing Mokuren and Hibito to move.

Kanemaru made some sort of muffled complaint that went ignored. Hibito leapt in and Hideki dodged, and Mokuren engaged Saro. She would have preferred it be strictly taijutsu like Hideki's fight, but Saro formed earth clones almost immediately and tried to hide himself away. Flipping over the clones, she went straight for the real one, wondering why he thought clones could fool anyone, and attacked. He used kawarimi, but she had already known where he would land.

Blinking in sudden confusion, Mokuren had a moment of deja vu as she cartwheeled over an earth clone towards a bush that hid someone - she knew it was an enemy... she kicked him into a tree, where he landed with a thud.

She attempted to leap over the earth clones and go for the original, but to her surprise one pulled her down by her ankle. She had thought they were too slow for her, but she felt oddly fatigued.

"Seriously, what are you doing?" Kanemaru hollered, and she didn't know when he had come closer - except he was still tied up, so she had moved closer. "That's like the tenth time you've tried going over, just slice them up again, that worked best!"

"Damare." Saro snapped at him from a branch - when had he gotten there? - before diving towards him, blade out. Mokuren moved to intercept him.

The brunette was midair, her sword partway out of its sheath, and she wasn't quite sure what she was doing in this swampy forest, or who the people around her were. Who was _she_?

"Mokuren!" A boy with long hair and activated byakugan called, sounding annoyed, and she remembered. Releasing Kanemaru with her blade while kicking Saro away, she lost her grip on the branch and barely managed to land on her feet. Her body was sore and her mind a mess, but she at least recognized that her befuddlement stemmed from some kind of jutsu now.

"That's certainly interesting," she commented, trying not to lean against the tree. "But you're low on chakra, now." Dawn was beginning to break, and Hibito also looked tired. Hideki had lost the use of his right arm through chakra blockage but fought on. Kanemaru was still fresh, and certainly less tired. She couldn't help feeling annoyed - he had said that he'd seen her do a thing _ten_ times, but why hadn't he yelled at her after the second time?

"Tch." Saro scowled. "Hideki." His brother nodded, and they fled. Kanemaru was rather put out, but there wasn't a point chasing them, not yet.


	19. Arc 3: Practical Geometry

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Six, Practical Geometry** _

The meeting had gone better than expected; Kentsu had been surprised that Kirikama and Udonsu were able to pull together such a group. He had at least briefly met each member and every person had at least one teammate present. He had half-hoped Mokuren would appear and defy whatever plan she had come up with at the start, but that hadn't happened.

From Sangogakure, there were three - Yuri and her team. From Konoha, two - Ayame and Koyama. And from Suna, Tetsuko, Kirikama, Udonsu, and Maitsu. In total, there were ten, nearly all rookies.

After lengthy debate, they decided that one of the purposes had been to frighten off attackers and decided not to hide their settlements. They would set traps all around, to be sure, and there would be two people to every watch, changing every two hours through the night.

Teammates would not be paired for watch, although that conversation had been more controversial. Udonsu, who presented it, had insisted it would be easier to sleep if they could be sure that the watch wouldn't turn against the rest. Their main goals would be survival, elimination of competition, and location of the center. They had five days for the last one, and looking too early could be problematic.

For the second day of the exam, they focused on obtaining supplies for Koyama and Kentsu - both had 'lost' their sleeping bags. At some point, Aruva had tried to brainstorm a group name for them, and Ayame had tried to insist that they were eleven, not ten, because her dog Kokoda counted.

Mokuren, Kanemaru and Hibito spent the first part of the second day looking for a new hideout.

"What are they doing?" Hibito asked at some point noticing while checking on his teammates with his byakugan that they had joined up with eight others.

"I don't know." Mokuren shrugged. "But it's a good thing, isn't it?"

Kanemaru looked between them. "What's going on?"

"Hibito's and my teammates have gathered with two other teams."

"Are they fighting?"

Hibito shook his head. "We could join them," he mentioned.

Mokuren didn't think that would work well. It took her a moment to sort her thoughts, before she managed to explain that a group so large would certainly draw attention and that they - that is to say, Mokuren and Hibito - could serve their teammates better from the outside by picking off anyone particularly competent before they reached the others. Likely as not, informing the group that they were being watched would be troublesome: From here, Mokuren couldn't be sure how well the group's dynamics worked or if they had enough trust to deal with behind-the-scenes protectors.

They moved closer to the group of ten, although not too close, and intercepted one attack likely aimed at their teammates within an hour. Two more would arrive before the second day ended, and this time night would prove to be peaceful, unlike the chaos of the first night.

During his watch, Kanemaru started Mokuren and Hibito awake by summoning mosquitoes. Hibito returned to his blanket cocoon the moment Kanemaru claimed he was just practicing, but before long he was advising Mokuren on summoning and she was showing him her still-young rats. Kanemaru was optimistic that she could be summoning useful summons before the test was through.

On the third day, it rained. Because they were in an underground city, that had not even occurred a a possibility and the seven non-Sango members didn't have tents. Tetsuko and Ayame were given watch while everyone tried to dry themselves and their things, and both had colds by the time their watch ended. Kokoda, however, loved the rain and remained perfectly healthy. Tetsuko glared at the adorable menace through the day, paper stuffed up his nose to keep it from running. Ayame complained endlessly about the smell of the paper until Koyama threatened to knock her out and drag her around; she countered with a mildly incoherent threat involving snot dripping onto his shirt and some kind of bug plague, but shut up nonetheless.

They had packed up to move to higher ground - if any could be found - to avoid the tents flooding. Yuri had suggested that tree hollows might make for great hideouts but they would be difficult to make, and especially in the rain.

After finding a good place, half the group - Shitori, Yuri, Maitsu, Kentsu, and Koyama - headed out, quite literally looking for trouble.

As the noisiest group members, Kentsu and Maitsu were to search for groups and play bait; Koyama, Yuri and Shitori would follow silently, prepared to blindside attackers.

It wasn't long before someone appeared - Kentsu's breath caught in his throat. The woman before them was mocking him, but he could barely hear that. Her skin color, her hair color, that face - she looked so much like Azami, although her hair was so much more curly.

"-little children, all-"

"Do you know anybody named Azami?" He blurted out, and the kunoichi stiffened in surprise, dark eyes widening.

"Where did you-" she began, but Yuri dropped on her suddenly. The enemy swore, but her familiar features formed a sneer as she seemed to recognize Yuri. She had dodged easily, but froze afterwards, halfway through making hand seals. "W-what..?"

Yuri jerked her head towards the east. The purple-haired woman moved as if she were going around an object, and Koyama appeared from around a tree. Their shadows were connected.

"A _Nara_ ," she hissed, before Yuri stepped between them and began rifling through the woman's pockets.

"Is this - a feather?" Yuri asked, incensed.

"Don't-" Koyama and Kentsu both yelled, but she had already laid the Kumo nin flat.

"Do we have to carry her back to camp?" Maitsu asked, irritated and bored.

"Let's kill her." Yuri answered, her expression livid.

Simultaneously, Koyama suggested, "Throw her over."

"Wait a minute, there's something I've got to ask her!" Kentsu insisted.

"You calm down," Maitsu ordered, pointing to Kentsu, "You _need_ to calm down," she emphasized for Yuri, "and I think you've got the right idea Nara, Kentsu can ask her with a letter or something after the exams, but not if we kill her. Why do you even want her dead?" Maitsu asked, more incredulous and concerned by the second.

"You should never kill unless you have to," Koyama added, similarly concerned.

"We are shinobi. We cannot make it through life without any blood on our hands, and what she has done is unforgivable."

"Maybe we can let Kentsu question her and then kill her?" Shitori tried to offer, approaching her friend warily.

Kentsu doubted he was the only one rethinking the decision to work with the Sangogakure team.

"Dare desuka?"

The childlike, squeaky voice startled Mokuren, breaking her concentration. She had been about to try to summon again, but that stopped promptly when she noticed that a brown mouse much larger than she had called on yet had perched itself on her shoulder.

"Can you hear me?" They asked.

"Ah, mmm. It's nice to meet you."

"Did you get it?" Kanemaru chirped gleefully, returning from a bathroom break.

The mouse barely spared Kanemaru a glance. "Are you a member of the Zoruna family? How did your name end up on our scroll? What has happened to the head of the family?" The questions came one after another, all hitting hard.

Mokuren inhaled sharply and shot Kanemaru a glare. He seemed confused, but he understood enough to back off and leave. Hibito was reading something a few yards away, relying on her to call if there was trouble. He couldn't hear at this distance, and she was fairly certain she could evade lip-reading should his attention turn away from his novel. Checking briefly on her teammates, Mokuren prepared to answer her summons' questions.

In the end, the purple-haired woman was thrown out of the arena by Udonsu and Ayame in the night. Kentsu wasn't pleased, and neither was Yuri. She had calmed down before Tetsuko could see her, giving Kentsu his own suspicions, but he really doubted Tetsuko would listen even if he tried to share them. Yuri did not have any other homicidal moments in the next few days, behaving almost scarily optimistic in Kentsu's opinion.

Mokuren's group also had mostly peaceful days, with the exclusion of a second fight against Saro and Hideki. They did not pull any memory tricks this time, although there were close calls; Kanemaru did not like that they insisted on holding back and asked Hibito to stay out of it until the Iwagakure shinobi went all-out. Consequently, Saro repeatedly aimed attacks at Hibito, all of which Kanemaru was able to block before Hibito could be dragged into anything.

She had been sure to tease him about it later, while Hibito was ensuring that the two brothers were out of the running and every other chance she got. It was terribly strange that their opponents had been willing to accept defeat without using that power, and Mokuren made a mental note to investigate it later.

The final day of the second exam seemed to arrive suddenly, and the morning was a mess for Tetsuko's camp. Attempts had been made the day before to calculate the center from rough estimates, but very little had been achieved. They were down to eighteen hours, and they had to hurry or all of their efforts would be for nothing; Ayame's frequent assertions that Hibito could find the center in seconds were extremely unhelpful, as nobody knew where he was.

They didn't have time to look, either. Kirikama predicted that they would not be attacked while they worked, but that other participants would watch closely, waiting until they found the center to bombard them.

Yuri had the idea to find the center by counting gates; it was very likely that they were equally spaced. It took the mini-team of five - Yuri, Kirikama, Aruva, Koyama, and Tetsuko - much longer than it should have to reach a position from which they could see all gates and even longer to end up with the same total number, and then they had to retrieve a sixth person - Udonsu - to help them in their attempt the meet in the middle. Dividing the total count into fourths, they chose three gates spaced by a fourth of the total to move towards in groups of two.

At a given signal, they would all begin to move at a similar speed towards the opposite gate. There was another signal for help from the four members on standby. Idealistically, they would meet almost exactly in the middle at the same time.

When they didn't all meet up at any point, they rethought that and chose to risk dividing into groups of one and starting at different random gates, doing their best to head straight towards the opposite gate. There were many obstacles, though, and many went off-track. Ayame, in particular, managed to blunder into quicksand.

Hibito thought it would be best to let their teammates find the center on come and confirm the exact location afterwards.

In reply, Kanemaru shook his head. "You're so lazy," he complained.

"How are we going to check?" Mokuren asked.

"My eyes can make sure of the lines."

"That's enough to check… how would we find the center if they don't end up with anything?" Kanemaru wanted to know.

"I think they're fairly close already. Perhaps they can narrow it down further before nightfall."

There were still dangers in the swamp, after all - seven teams in total remained. Mokuren found it rather suspicious that four of them just happened to be the ones she knew and had gotten along with; and then there was her own team and Kanemaru's. Only one team had nothing to do with her, and they were not in a condition to reach the center.

Mokuren might have suggested they rescue them - out of pity, or to ease her worries - but she could sense Kanemaru's teammates near there. Mokuren had not met either of them, but the stronger was incredibly violent; they had killed seven people in this exam with very little emotional disturbance in response.

Frustratingly, Mokuren could determine very little about either person's abilities. She had little hope that they would fail to reach the portal and was seriously contemplating joining the group of ten while Kanemaru's teammates were occupied - and by mid-afternoon, Hibito agreed. Somehow, the strangers were still fighting, although barely, and she doubted they would have much longer, so she tried to ignore her misgivings when Kanemaru failed to offer any input. He had been very talkative, and his sudden silence made her wary.

Kentsu wasn't pleased at all. after all the effort to find an exact center, they had suddenly settled on placing traps around the approximate they had come up with the day before; he blamed the sudden arrival and welcoming of Natora's team. Tetsuko and Aruva were still pretending to do the trials, while Udonsu and Koyama guarded them. Yuri was maintaining an illusion over the area to hide their movements while they worked on traps; any onlooker would see them poring over a few scrolls, or sharing a small meal.

Ayame and Kokoda were probably the real reason he was so put-out, actually. Watching them race around, he wondered if they had been converting their toilet trenches into pit traps against Kirikama's orders. They were far too smug for a person and a dog whose every idea had been shot down. Kirikama's authority was shaky at best, however. He couldn't reprimand her for it, or for anything else short of outright betrayal.

In an instant, their smirks dropped. Kokoda bared his teeth, taking cautious steps towards Kentsu. He didn't know what they were playing at, but no shrimpy dog could look at him that. He opened his mouth to yell and was unexpectedly knocked down. For a moment he thought another member of the group had decked him, but Ayame's call for help changed that.

A moment later, a blade pressed against his throat and his attacker pulled him back into a kneeling position.

"No sudden movements." The invader advised Kira as he rushed to their location, blade in hand.

"Release him." Natora ordered. Kentsu couldn't see her, but he hoped she had her weapons out too.

"Or what, _Koneko-chan?_ " They taunted.

"Kone-? Mokuren?!" Kentsu yelped. He was promptly released, and scrambled up in time to see the smoke from her released henge.

"Yo." She chirped with a jaunty wave. Mokuren was unharmed, and her clothes had been maintained better than even Natora's.

"What kind of an entrance was that?" Ayame snapped. She attempted to step towards Mokuren, but Natora stopped her.

"How do we know that you are really Mokuren - and even if you are, you're not a part of this group. Your actions thus far suggest that we should not trust you - can you give me even one reason why we should?"

"You haven't found the precise center yet - no, you're not even sure you're in the right area. I have someone who can help you with that."

"Don't tell me-" Ayame began, only to groan as she was proven right. Hibito shrugged off her glower and beckoned Kanemaru over.

"What's going on?" Kirikama seemed wary. Tetsuko hoped someone else would answer because he didn't quite understand. He'd told Maitsu that Mokuren intended to meet up on the last day, so that wasn't a surprise; they had been hoping to find Hibito, so that was a relief; there was an unfamiliar ginger with them, now, and the three were being closely watched by all of the Konoha genin; Kentsu seemed exasperated, but Tetsuko supposed that if he wasn't angry, nothing could be too wrong.

"This witch showed up disguised as an enemy, captured and threatened Kentsu, then had these two come out and all of them want to join us." Kira summarized.

Mokuren's lips twitched upward when Tetsuko and Kirikama shot her incredulous stares, her own eyes sliding away to examine a tree. Tetsuko wondered if she was on something - she'd threatened Kentsu, and just now, smiled.

"Introduce yourself." Udonsu demanded, his eyes on the redhead.

Mokuren snapped to attention. "This is kami-kun."

"Danko Kanemaru." The Sango boy corrected with a roll of his eyes. "You're going to explain that nickname later." He added to Mokuren.

"The three of us have been working together since the first day," Hibito explained. Tetsuko had a feeling even he wasn't taking them seriously. "The only people left other than those present here are Kanemaru's teammates and one stranger - the three are fighting as we speak. Now is a good time, and I'd be happy to help... but Kanemaru must be welcomed before I'll do anything."

"Seriously? He's just going to become competition in the next exam, and you'll fail too if we can't find the portal." Koyama pointed out.

Tetsuko noticed Mokuren smirk, and his uneasiness was finally too much. Ignoring the conversation, he walked over to Kentsu. "Hey, is that really Mokuren?"

"She's using everyone's nicknames - unless she's been blabbering away about us, I don't think someone could learn all of them in such a short time. Maybe she ate something bad?" Kentsu murmured.

"Did she really..?"

"She had a knife at my throat - for a few moments, anyway. She said it was to test Aida, Natora and the rest, to see if the group was close-knit or if she should take everyone out now. They passed... I think?"

"A test?! That's..! Just like her, actually." Tetsuko grudgingly conceded. Still, her behavior concerned him.

Mokuren was... confused. Yes, she was sure of that. Few other things were as certain. Hibito had done his job, and they had half an hour left, so she was supposed to be doing something. She couldn't quite recall what, though.

Kanemaru plopped next to her on the log. His chakra felt weird. She smiled at him anyway; maybe he knew what she was supposed to be doing?

"Nee, kami-chan, what am I doing? Where's Enpitsu-chan?"

Paper and pencil, good nicknames for good people that worked well together...

Kanemaru pat her head. "Don't worry about Hibito, okay?"

"Right." She'd had another question, but it escaped. Mokuren couldn't see the stars, but there was no sunlight. Wait, she was underground.

"Why trees?" She pondered.

Kanemaru shrugged, making some seals. He sliced his arm and smeared blood on his hand. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

A mosquito appeared, larger than any other Mokuren had seen him summon. "Is it time?"

The Sango nin nodded. "Make sure they hurry. It'll burn pretty quickly once things start. This girl could be quite troublesome." Kanemaru laughed. Then he turned to Mokuren. "Don't worry about this either, alright? Here," he said, helping her up. Her balance was off, for some reason. She was reminded her of her mother. "It's about time - let's go see the others. Wait til I say so to enter the camp though, okay?"

Mokuren agreed. She wondered what they were doing, trying to sneak. Were they pulling a prank? She'd liked scaring Kentsu, earlier. Kanemaru was full of good ideas. He was also terrible at cards.

Kanemaru sat by Hibito when he joined the others. They seemed to think he'd gone to take a dump. A fire had been set up. There was little smoke, but she still wondered at the risk.

A mosquito passed her, and she wondered if it was a summon. Bugs didn't like smoke.

The redhead looked her way and nodded. That was his say so, probably. She entered the camp. Tetsuko looked alarmed."Mokuren?" He asked tentatively. Mokuren sat by him, offering a smile.

"What are you doing here? You said you were going to keep watch..."

 _That_ was what she'd been doing. Before she could get back to it, things began.

Kanemaru pulled out a knife. She could watch whatever later; they were pulling a prank now. Giddy with sudden excitement, she had to look the other way. She didn't want him to be caught because someone followed her eyes.

"Mokuren - hey, are you okay?"

Hibito swore suddenly, his byakugan activated. It focused on something behind Mokuren. He then glared at her, snarling, "They're almost on us - why didn't you -?"

He stopped abruptly. Kanemaru had him pinned. There was a kunai at Hibito's neck. "Nobody move," he sang.

A blue-haired woman appeared soon. Her hairstyle reminded Mokuren of butterfly wings. Her outfit was made of shining, metallic feathers. She had twin swords in her hands. A black-haired man soon followed. He had a puppet. Mokuren absently nicknamed it Sora, then wondered why she wasn't more worried.

"Sorry I couldn't call you earlier." Kanemaru smiled, "It works well out this way, though."

"It's so clean." The woman spoke with disdain. Mokuren wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"Ah, you always think so, Kujaku."

"What's going on?" Udonsu asked, trying to hide his fear.

Mokuren wondered when the prank was going to end; things were looking very serious. Everyone was worried; he should let Hibito go now.

"We're taking the portal - only us." Kujaku grinned. "Well, maybe your team can come, Yuri. I've always wanted to kill you, and it would be more fun if it's in public. Your sensei would probably be happy to see you go."

"You-you're..." Kentsu recognized her. Kujaku didn't seem to know him.

"You expect us to let you get away with this?" Maitsu asked. She was angry. Mokuren was becoming more confused by the second.

Kanemaru answered, "If you move, I'll kill him. Can you handle that?"

Kill, kill, kill - oh. It finally sunk in. This wasn't a prank; he had tricked her. How? Why hadn't she seen it? He wouldn't kill Hibito. The two had become somewhat close. Her intuition said he wouldn't do it.

The portal appearing at the other end of the clearing startled everyone. Mokuren pulled a kunai. She wasn't steady enough to risk throwing it. Kujaku saw it, and waved to Kanemaru. His eyes were conflicted - as she predicted.

His hesitation gave Maitsu the courage to move. She drove a kunai into the unknown boy's arm. Kujaku's glee turned to shock, then anger. When Kanemaru still didn't kill Hibito, she slashed at the nearest genin and rushed to the portal. Udonsu fell, gasping - the bone of his leg was visible. Blood appeared on his sleeve and across his chest.

Maitsu swore viciously. Natora attacked Kanemaru. He released Hibito without trouble, grabbing his teammate and following Kujaku.

Mokuren wasn't sure what to do - it angered her that they had escaped so easily. Udonsu needed immediate attention, and Aruva and Aida looked conflicted. Should they care for him now? Hope that the other side had medics?

"They'll help him." Yuri declared. "Let's hurry..!"

Maitsu glared at Mokuren when she stumbled over to help. She didn't let Hibito near Udonsu.

"This is your fault." She told him, "I'd blame Mokuren, but it's clear that he did something to her beforehand."

Mokuren was glad she understood, but thought it was her fault as well. "You can argue when he's safe," she urged Maitsu.

The portal was very brightly lit. It looked like a pool of water floating vertically, somehow - if they made it out of this with everyone intact, she had to ask what kind of jutsu had created this. Actually, she doubted she would get around to it. She had a lot of other things to research now, even if there were no leads on the seal she had nearly forgotten.

Kirikama was hysterical, and they sent him ahead to alert medics while most of the others helped Udonsu or packed everyone's supplies. Tetsuko had Tao-kun; Aida and Aruva were applying pressure while Kentsu, Koyama, Maitsu, and Mokuren carefully positioned and carried him. Entering the portal, they felt suddenly weightless. Udonsu shrieked with pain as they landed - medics surrounded him immediately, sending the genin away.

Kujaku and Kanemaru were with another medic. Their teammate's cut looked very wrong - Maitsu poisoned some of her blades, Mokuren recalled distantly. The medics did what they could for the moment to make both safe for travel and took them to hospital. The remaining sixteen genin were ordered into the next room.

* * *

**_End Note: In the original I totally spaced that I hadn't included Natora, Aida and Kira with the team of ten, they just became a part somewhere along the way. Was debating changing everything to suit that they'd been there all along, but eh._ **


	20. Arc 3: Prelims Begin!

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Seven, Prelims Begin!** _

"The Third Exam, as you may have heard, is an important part of international cooperation." Their new proctor, Nanase, began. "It is a tournament in which the participants will prove their nation's strength to the most prosperous of clients. For that reason, the real test does not begin for four more weeks. Unfortunately, there is a rule that demands ten or fewer participants; if more than ten pass the Second Exam, we are required to hold preliminary rounds until there are fewer than ten. Six teams made it through the portal, and technically qualified; however until we know whether the two that were injured will survive, it is not yet certain that their teammates passed all of the requirements for the Second Exam. For now, you may rest up and wander the building. Do not leave. Do not fight."

And with that, they were dismissed. Mokuren caught Kanemaru's eye for a moment before he flinched away. She tried not to feel vindicated.

"Udonsu's pack is full of food." Maitsu mumbled before leaving the room. With wary and hesitant glances towards Kujaku's team, the other twelve followed. Hibito was careful not to look at Kanemaru, and stayed at the back of the group to avoid Maitsu.

Mokuren couldn't help but sense Kujaku's bitterness and the wave of regret she had felt when Nanase mentioned that the two not present might die soon, and wondered at Kujaku's still-smug expression. It was worth noting; as seemingly remorseless as the Sango nin was, even she cared for her teammates. Mokuren had qualms about even planning to use that against her, but Kanemaru's regret was also apparent and the offense he committed was far more personal.

They had already began to eat in a room a floor up before Kanemaru and Kujaku left that entrance hall. They split soon, possibly from an argument. Excusing herself, Mokuren went after Kanemaru. He knew who she was and where, but seemed to think she was heading his way coincidentally, and she was forced to chase him down. Finally, he was cornered in a far room without a window, an she was feeling a little exasperated.

"Are you five years old?"

Kanemaru stepped out from behind the door, eyes trained on a floor tile. "Sorry."

"For avoiding me, drugging me, threatening the life of my friend, or betraying us?"

He peeked up at her momentarily. "All..."

"Then you should say so in full instead of mumbling. You did what you had to do, right? And you tried to keep anyone from being hurt. I'm the one that didn't think things through." Mokuren had gone for her kunai without a single thought for the repercussions of calling Kanemaru's bluff.

"You couldn't have thought things through," he reminded her.

"There we go, a full sentence. The results matter, but so does your intent. I forgive you," Mokuren clarified, hoping he would calm down. His guilt was negatively affecting his chakra, and it was not particularly fun to sense. "The other's won't, though, not unless you can prove to them you deserve forgiveness. You can't do that by blaming yourself only and hiding away."

In a room not so far away, time continued to pass."She's really taking her time," Ayame remarked, eyeing Mokuren's unfinished plate.

Maitsu scowled. "Maybe she's taking a dump? She'll be back before the deadline, I'm sure."

Hibito's hands, already forming the seal to open his byakugan, shot apart quickly. He threw Maitsu a disgusted look, and Tetsuko had to wonder about that aspect of his bloodline limit. He didn't know the limitations, but he'd heard it could see inside people and through objects; there was a lot of potential for invasion of privacy, and even thinking about what Hibito might have seen made Tetsuko uncomfortable.

"I wanted to wait until she returned, but I assume she already knows," Natora began, setting down her chopsticks. "Working together was ideal for the last exam, and I don't particularly want to harm any of you, but there should be no pulling punches or holding grudges for what happens in this next exam."

Kentsu hadn't thought about that until she said it; their group had formed out of convenience. No matter how friendly they had been, they were enemies now. Even his own teammates would be his opponents in this exam.

"No killing, though." Kirikama suggested.

"I'll give any of you a chance to surrender." Kira conceded. He looked particularly enthusiastic about the upcoming fights.

"Aiming to win rather than kill is something every decent shinobi would do in a tournament." Maitsu sighed. "That girl, though. Whoever fights her will need to be careful."

Aida frowned. "You're hoping it'll be you, right?"

"Of course."

Shitori and her teammates had been dozing off, almost, but she looked sharply at Maitsu now. "What did you do to that puppet user?" She wanted to know. "It looked like you barely cut him, but the medics seemed to think he was in as much danger as..."

"She won't be going for the kill," Aruva pointed out, but he also looked wary.

Kanemaru was terribly hesitant, but Mokuren was even more persistent. "We're all friends now, even you agreed. You need to talk to him."

"But what do I say? And what if-"

"Unlikely. I don't care what you were suggesting, it's unlikely." She wasn't in the mood for excuses, even if she didn't want to hold a grudge. Opening the door slightly, she peeked in.

"Hey, Mokuren! Can I eat your-"

"Yeah, sure. Hibito, can you come out here for a minute?"

He didn't ask why, and she was grateful. He didn't see Kanemaru until they rounded the next corner.

"Mokuren..." Hibito scowled, seemingly patient. She took a step back, ignoring Kanemaru's pleading look. "What's he doing here?"

"Apologizing." She answered, seeing that Kanemaru wouldn't take his cue.

"I don't want to hear it." Hibito sneered. Mokuren shut them both outside of the genin group's room, holding the door firmly shut. Ignoring Yuri's inquiries, she tried to listen in.

Eventually, a chunin stopped by and called them to the main room. They'd talked to Kanemaru and Kujaku first, and the two were waiting already. Kirikama, Maitsu, and Kujaku were very tense as they lined up, awaiting the update on their teammate's status.

"Now that we're all here, it is my duty to inform all of you that, while Udonsu and Chitsuki Keiku are unable to compete, they are no longer in danger and as such, their teammates may participate. At this point in time, you are all no longer operating in teams. Anyone that has thought of quitting and held off for the sake of their team may leave now."

None of them moved, but Mokuren suspected that Kanemaru had considered it. His talk with Hibito could have gone worse, but they had still resolved nothing.

As Nanase continued to give instructions, six jounin entered and took up places along the two balconies overseeing their lineup.

Soon enough, Mokuren and the others were sent up there also while the proctor finished configuring the randomizer.

Temari greeted the three of them with a smile, and Tetsuko jumped into the tale of their Second Exam. Mokuren was forced to recognize that she had not fully recovered from that poison or whatever after all; she was having a very hard time forcing herself to stay so near Temari, and even more difficulty looking relaxed.

She thought about going and talking to Umerano, her father's old friend that also happened to be Udonsu's sensei, or trying to meet the two Konoha jounin, but everyone else was staying with their teams at the moment.

Instead she tried to calm herself by reviewing the names, personalities and abilities of lesser rat summons. This strategy was particularly unhelpful when Kentsu began to detail her odd - and embarrassing - actions, and point out Kanemaru to Temari. Mokuren really wished the two of them would pay attention to the atmosphere once in a while.

The screen connected to the randomizer flickered to life, and names flashing by as it prepared to choose the fighters for the first match. Kentsu crossed his fingers, but of course _she_ got the first fight.

In glaring yellow letters, it read, 'Rokku Aida vs. Mokuren'. She found that she really disliked the way her name looked in katakana. Mokuren hadn't seen Aida fight at any point; however, he had hurried to help Udonsu and possessed some knowledge of medical jutsu. Aida had smaller chakra reserves than he did, and it seemed likely that he would fight primarily with taijutsu or weapons. As he walked down the stairs, his chakra fluctuated anxiously.

A lack of confidence could ruin even the strongest of ninja - chakra control was easily affected by it. Mokuren didn't like that she had to face someone like him, but this was not the time for giving up.

Tetsuko didn't like this. Mokuren still seemed relatively out of it, and although he kind of thought Aida was weak he'd also thought Kanemaru was kind. Mostly, the Konoha nin had just hid in Natora's shadow with his other teammate up til now, but it was very possible he'd been holding back.

Nanase started the match, but neither person moved for a moment. Then Aida struck, surprisingly quick; Mokuren blocked easily enough and threw him back. This continued for several minutes, and Tetsuko grew bored enough of watching Mokuren on the defensive to look around. Hibito's team stood nearby; his byakugan was activated, and one eyebrow was raised. He looked unimpressed, but whether by Mokuren or Aida, Tetsuko couldn't tell.

Aida finally backed off, beginning to use senbon. Temari winced loudly when one sliced through Mokuren's upper sleeve, but the brunette looked unbothered. Actually, she looked... almost... unconscious. A quick look at Kanemaru on the other balcony revealed that the traitor was also confused, so perhaps Aida had done something?

"He's using genjutsu. She's only pretending to be affected, though." Hibito murmured. He'd moved over at some point. "You're her teammate, don't underestimate her."

"If she isn't affected, why doesn't she just end it?"

Hibito shrugged. Ayame, though, offered an explanation. "Aida's got a bit of a problem with perfectionism. When he tries something, he expects to get it perfectly from the start, like he has with certain talents, and if he doesn't he gets really upset. Maybe she picked up on it and thinks it'll help if he thinks the battle was close?"

"That'd be pretty harmful to him in the long run," Their jounin sensei pointed out. She wasn't anyone Tetsuko recognized, and her hair and eyes were brown. Her clothing style was different from the average shinobi, although it was clear she still prioritized practicality. "Isn't it more likely that she's trying to make some of you underestimate her later?"

Mokuren was still moving to dodge, although barely. Aida certainly seemed more confident than at the start, but their fight wasn't particularly interesting.

Kentsu wanted to see flashy ninjutsu, not genjutsu and weapon tricks. Maybe they were more 'shinobi' like, but they just weren't as much fun. If all eight matches were going to be like this, he would fall asleep. His teammate also seemed to be bored of it, though, as she suddenly formed the ram seal and disappeared in a poof of smoke, startling Aida.

It looked like she had used to kawarimi to swap herself with the bag Aida still wore on his back, and she knocked him out quickly.

"Winner; Sunagakure's Mokuren." Nanase pronounced, turning to set up the next match-up. Mokuren looked uncertain about something, hesitating before she headed to the stairs.

"That was lame." Kentsu complained.

"To watch; it was a little more fun participating."

"Yeah, right. You could've used his bag for kawarimi and ended it much earlier." Tetsuko scowled. To his disappointment, she just shrugged, smirk still intact.

"Ah, it's your turn!" Ayame spoke up, tapping Kentsu's shoulder.

'Kentsu vs. Memakawa Aruva', the board read.


	21. Arc 3: The Will To Fight!

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Eight, The Will to Fight!** _

Kentsu had been so excited for his fight, hoping he'd be against the traitorous redhead or that scary girl, maybe Natora to shrink her head a bit. He didn't like that he'd have to fight Aruva to get into the tournament. The Sangogakure nin had been quite upfront about his own weaknesses, and of course Kentsu would have to use that against him, but it just didn't feel right. It sounded a bit too much like what Kanemaru had done. Stepping into place in front of Nanase, Aruva looked determined.

"Don't underestimate me." He told Kentsu, a familiar sort of smirk tugging at his lips.

Across from him, the salmon-haired boy sneered, his resolve solidifying. "You're gonna lose." Kentsu promised, barely waiting for the signal to leap over, fire engulfing his left fist as he threw a hook. Aruva dodged, and then sent him flying with a kick. Before Kentsu could recover, he began forming seals, and out of his mouth poured enough water to thinly coat the ground - it was much more than Kentsu had expected, but it seemed pretty pointless after he'd dodged the first wave. That is, until he tripped, sliding along on his stomach. Something slipped out of his pouch and was thrown into the wall, exploding - a smoke bomb. Whoops.

Whatever - Kentsu could use that. He crashed into the wall himself before long, and used that to stand up.

He couldn't see anything, not even the balconies, and he had a hard time resisting the urge to cough - quickly, he fixed his coat to cover his mouth and nose. He had a thought and tried to listen for anyone else coughing - maybe he could find Aruva's location right away - but he didn't hear anything. This situation could become convenient pretty easily, though, if he had any luck...

Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out several kunai and prepared to throw. If he screwed up, he'd look like an idiot in front of a room full of people his own age, and Tetsuko might even show him up later; if he did this right, he was sure he would win.

From the balcony, Tetsuko watched as kunai thudded into the walls in a circular pattern.

"Is he hoping to get a lucky hit on Aruva?" Kira asked, leaning on the railing. More appeared, shortly after the circle completed; there was a second layer now, and it seemed oddly precise if he was hoping for a lucky hit.

The smoke was beginning to dissipate, though, and shapes were becoming visible from above. To Tetsuko's surprise, Kentsu's fist lit up and he slammed it into the ground. The water from Aruva's earlier technique had created many puddles; the heat from Kentsu's flames caused it to steam suddenly. He was still faintly visible, but probably not to Aruva.

Kentsu backed himself slowly towards a corner, careful not to make sound. His opponent didn't seem to have made any moves, but he didn't want to risk running into him and screwing this up.

It took a little bit to get to a corner, and one of his kunai had embedded itself into the wall; he had to wince; Kentsu had used too much force, expecting the walls to be more difficult to pierce. He could probably do this anyway, if he was able to do it at all, but he'd need to be more careful if he used something like this again.

"Seriously, and he was complaining about boring battles." Koyama sighed.

Tetsuko was a little more concerned. "Do you think he can find him in this?"

"He wouldn't have made steam cover if he didn't have some kind of plan," Ayame murmured, though she didn't seem very sure about her own words.

"What's that?" Koyama asked, leaning on the railing. Kentsu had formed a single seal - ram - before grabbing something in the air... a wire.

The kunai in the wall began to shake as the fingers of Kentsu's empty hand twitched. He spread his fingers wide, and then pushed a fist towards the center. The kunai shot from the walls somewhat randomly, aimed into the smoke, trailing ninja wire and chakra threads. There was a muffled shriek, and Kentsu leapt to the noise.

When the steam cleared up, Mokuren winced. The kunai had all missed Aruva, but the wires had caught him and wrapped around him, cutting into his skin in many places.

Kentsu must have looked concerned too, because Aruva glared at him.

"Don't look at me like that!" He insisted, using a kunai to cut the wires away from them.

He held the blade out in front of him for a moment in a fighting stance before his trembling legs collapsed under him. Throwing the kunai, he sliced open Kentsu's sleeve.

Swearing viciously, he began forming seals... and Kentsu interrupted him with a kick to the gut that sent Aruva sliding into the wall. He didn't get back up, and the proctor walked over to check on him. "Memakawa Aruva is no longer able to fight. The winner is Sunagakure's Kentsu."

A couple of medic nin carried a stretcher over, removing Aruva from the room. As he climbed the stairs, Kentsu's teeth were grinding together. He didn't say anything as he settled onto the floor, back to the railing, and picked up the deck of cards.

"Want to play liar?" Mokuren offered, seating herself. He scowled, but didn't seem upset with her. He even dealt the cards.

"That was a pretty cool trick, using chakra threads..." Tetsuko mumbled after a minute.

Kentsu nodded, looking a little conflicted. "You'd better win your fight." He told Tetsuko eventually, turning back to the impromptu game.

The randomizer lit up, and after a moment declared that the next match would be Danko Kanemaru vs. Hyuuga Hibito. Hibito's sharp intake told Mokuren that, despite his anger, he hadn't wanted to fight Kanemaru, or at least not so soon. Across the room, Kanemaru's chakra was stirring itself up, and she didn't think it was really a question at all who would win the fight.

Kanemaru's face was pale as he approached the proctor. His blue eyes looked everywhere except at Hibito.

"Is he going to give up?" Kentsu grumbled, laying down a 'three'. Mokuren flipped it, pushing the stack towards him as she shook her head. Despite her nonchalant attitude, she was looking a little green; Kentsu hoped she wouldn't puke on him.

"It's got to be a trick," Tetsuko decided. Mokuren scowled at him, but he didn't notice. "Are either of them going to move?"

Nanase had already said 'start', but the two still stood in place, Hibito's pupil-less glare fixed on Kanemaru. He hadn't even activated his bloodline limit yet.

"Don't just stand there!" Someone barked, and Kentsu was surprised to see it was Kujaku. "Kick his ass!" Flinching, Kanemaru looked back at her, and Hibito chose then to make his move, using shuriken to pin Kanemaru's shoes to the floor before advancing, palms open. His fighting style looked pretty ridiculous, but he seemed very confident and, beside Kentsu, Ayame smiled. She looked like she anticipated a quick fight... and she wasn't wrong.

Thee redhead made an attempt to dodge Hibito's palm, but even though it looked like he had gotten away he still looked pained afterwards. The arm Hibito had gotten close to fell limp, but Kanemaru managed to cut his feet out of his shoes and break away with one arm.

He dodged several more of Hibito's attacks, until Hibito landed a blow against Kanemaru's chest; then, the redhead sort of crumpled. The fight was over; Hibito was named the winner, although that didn't keep him from spitting at Kanemaru's feet and marching away with all the grace of a aristocrat.

"You're too cruel, Enpitsu-chan." Mokuren told him upon his return to the balcony. Even Ayame frowned at her for that, but no one said anything. Kentsu threw his cards into the pile as names flickered by again, but his pout was quickly replaced by shock. Turning to see what he was looking at, Mokuren groaned.

Tetsuko was the last to look up, and as he read the board - 'Fukurou Yuri vs. Tetsuko', it continued to say, no matter how many times he looked at it. He exchanged panicked glances with Kentsu before Mokuren tossed her own cards and dragged him to the stairs. "Give it your best shot." She told him, probably trying to be reassuring, but it didn't help that she nearly pushed him down the stairs right after. He stumbled over to Nanase on his own, at least, still trying to figure out what to do now.

"He's going to give up." Mokuren deadpanned.

"Don't say that!" Kentsu snapped, because he couldn't quite contradict her. Pushing his hair away from his face in frustration, he watched on as Nanase began the match.

"Good to know this'll be boring, too."

"You don't want to fight me, do you?" Yuri's voice was soft and held no judgement. Kentsu started banging his head on the rail.

"I, well..." Tetsuko began, but stopped when she took a couple steps forward.

He hadn't been confident about his fight even at the start; this kind of setting wasn't ideal for genjutsu and he'd feel like an idiot if he used E-rank jutsu. Yuri was stronger in taijutsu than he was, and probably better with illusions, and he wondered why she didn't just attack him while he was still thrown off. He had hopes on why, of course, but tried to keep himself grounded.

"I don't want to fight you either," Yuri told him, too quietly for anyone else to hear. "but, I have a goal I would do anything to achieve, and becoming chunin is the first, _crucial_ step. Do you need to win here, Tetsuko? If not, my determination would beat you anyway, but... if I can hide my true abilities here, the tournament will be that much easier. The other competitors won't be able to plan around me. That's why I'm asking... please, will you give up?"

A goal, a reason to become chunin. He didn't really have anything like that; Tetsuko had wanted to compete to prove his worth to himself more than anyone else, and he hadn't done that yet, but Yuri's goal seemed to be something far more serious.

"What's she saying?"

Hibito scowled at Mokuren. "I thought you'd given up on him."

"... I'd still like to know how Yuri convinces him."

"Too late to listen in now," Temari remarked, trying not to look surly. Tetsuko had turned to the proctor.

Raising a hand, he said, "I give up."

It was the right decision, he was sure, and Yuri's smile reassured him of that. Even the disappointment coming off his team in waves couldn't make him regret it. He'd train hard with techniques he could use in such a fight, and he'd pass the next exam.

Nodding to himself, he glanced at Yuri's smiling face on the other balcony one last time before he turned to see who would be in the next match.


	22. Arc 3: Dance of the Midget!

_**Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Nine, Dance of the Midget!** _

'Maitsu vs. Inuzuka Ayame', the board read.

"Alright!" Ayame howled, pumping her fist in the air before spinning to point at her opponent. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" Kokoda barked along, equally excited.

"Tch, you won't be able to lay a finger on me," Maitsu mocked her. Mokuren was glad to see that Maitsu wasn't too disappointed about not fighting Kujaku here; Ayame stood a decent chance, and it seemed a fair enough fight. Their little competition on the stairs was a bit much, but acting childish was one of Maitsu's coping methods.

"One-fifty on Ayame to win." Koyama announced as the two girls took their place on the floor.

"Two hundred says Kokoda does all the work."

Kirikama sighed. "Two-fifty on Maitsu, then."

"One thousand on a double KO." Mokuren pitched in, feeling the need for neutrality. Privately, she thought Ayame didn't stand a chance.

The two charged each other, meeting in the middle. Maitsu dodged a hit and swept Ayame's legs out from under her; she then went flying back as Kokoda appeared suddenly and attacked. The black dog was back on her in an instant, and when Maitsu dodged, Kokoda managed to steal her weapon's pouch.

"How do you like that?" Ayame spoke triumphantly as she attacked from behind. Together, dog and mistress backed Maitsu to the wall and when she finally managed to throw them off, Kokoda suddenly transformed into a second Ayame. Mokuren took note of the way Kokoda's chakra signature had changed to mimic Ayame's - they were almost exactly alike, now.

"Is that move legal?"

"The proctor isn't complaining."

Together, girl and dog began to spin, forming drills that launched at Maitsu and made holes in the floor when she managed to dodge.

"What do you call that?"

"Fang over Fang, Human Mode!" Ayame grinned.

"Well, if that's all you've got, then you may as well give up now." Maitsu declared, forming seals.

Ayame and Kokoda leaped back, eyeing her warily. When nothing happened, Ayame signed something and both brunettes dropped on all fours, their already wild hair intensifying and nails darkening as they sharpened. Snarling, the two formed drills again, but barely made it halfway before stopping, revealing that their arms and legs were almost completely in the ground. Both faces seemed to be locked in an eternal snarl, but Mokuren was sure they were surprised.

Maitsu ran through a few other seals, smirking like she'd already won, and the ground swam up to form three clones. The four Maitsu approached Ayame and Kokoda leisurely, and were only a meter away when a cloud of smoke arose as Kokoda's transformation ended and he spilled out the contents of the stolen pouch.

Kentsu ended up leaning over the railing, tapping impatiently as he waited for something he could see. It took quite a while - he had to wonder if it had only been one smoke bomb - but at least he could see a single Maitsu on one knee, and a few meters away, Ayame clutching her nose with one hand and a kunai with the other. Kokoda lay behind her, covering his own nose.

With a grunt, Maitsu stood up. "What's next?" She asked, with an effort to sound smug. "It doesn't look like your dog can take much more."

Ayame's head snapped up, her hand moving to her pouch. "Kokoda's not a normal dog; you shouldn't underestimate him!" With that, she tossed something into her mouth and quickly turned to feed another one to Kokoda. With a shudder, they both straightened up. Kentsu had to wonder why a little comment like that had angered the happy-go-lucky girl, but he would do that later.

"Nee, will you forgive me if I show you something cool? I didn't want to use this before the big matches, but I get the feeling I won't make it that far if I don't use it, here and now."

"Got some kind of super move?" Maitsu sneered.

Beside Kentsu, Hibito sighed. "Is it too late to change the bet?"

"Do you think Kokoda's out?" Tetsuko asked, a little confused.

Mokuren shook her head, looking disappointed as she watched on. "Are we allowed to yell advice? Would they be disqualified?" She asked Hibito.

"Probably."

Down below, Ayame flared with sudden strength. "Oh, it's 'super', alright! Just don't hold it against me!" She laughed, activating a technique.

Her hair billowed upwards as she concentrated chakra and formed a drill that rapidly increased in size; behind her, Kokoda did the same. Maitsu attempted to dodge, but they grew even larger, boring holes through the floor, throwing her threw the air and then chasing her down to attack again. It was almost fifteen seconds of torture, and it only stopped when Maitsu's body quit moving.

"Is she alright?" Kentsu asked.

In return, Mokuren asked, "Which one?"

Ayame's legs seemed to barely be able to hold her up as she stopped the drill, but she managed to walk over to Maitsu. "It's amazing, isn't it?" She laughed. "Exhausting, but so much faster, and so much stronger. In this kind of situation, it's a great trade-off." With a smile, she tried to maneuver Maitsu onto her side... to find that the smaller girl was crumbling into dirt.

Kokoda yelped a warning, but it was far too late; the real Maitsu appeared out of the ground and quickly dispatched Ayame.

With a grimace, Nanase announced, "Winner; Sunagakure's Maitsu!"

The medics took her away, only barely permitting Kokoda to jump on the stretcher with her. The dog was just as exhausted, but as loyal as anyone would expect.

Koyama gave Hibito an accusatory glance. "You knew it was a clone - why didn't you say anything?"

"I had hoped she would at least take a second to wonder why Maitsu created clones to attack her when she was already trapped..."

The board began to flicker as Maitsu reached the group, and she was the last to notice when it stopped. Her face drained of happiness and color - 'Awaichi Kujaku vs. Kirikama' was probably the last lineup she would have wanted, Tetsuko realized with a wince.

Kirikama pulled at the brim of his hat. "This will be fun." He mumbled.

"Give up." Maitsu ordered him abruptly. "You-"

"I need to try. If it gets rough, I'll consider quitting, alright?"

"You should have more faith in him," Temari admonished after he was out of earshot. Tetsuko had forgotten she was there, and jumped in alarm.

The short girl shook her head. "Kirikama's strength is in cooperation. He rarely wins single battles, and only against close-range or genjutsu-type opponents. He's going to..." Her voice faltered.

"He knows his limits," Mokuren said. Tetsuko eyed her, wondering if she was trying to be reassuring. She sounded irritated.

Kujaku's earlier anger seemed to have worn off, at least. She made sure Maitsu caught her delighted grin, and proceeded somewhat dramatically down the stairs. Her entire getup was a little excessive, Tetsuko thought.

A metal ballgown - even if it opened in the front to reveal a pair of capris, and bent enough to trail down the stairs after her, it surely still limited movement, and really, how useful could it even be as armor? And her makeup was almost too perfect - as it had been the whole while. Did she have a henge up all the time? Her hair was unreal, too. It looked like she had tied it in a giant bow, but it was so... it added nearly a foot to her height, it held up so well. Her swords were the only thing about her that looked truly practical, and the more Tetsuko looked, the more he wondered why everyone seemed to consider her the biggest threat.

Her face still grinning unnaturally wide, Kujaku unsheathed one sword, dropping into a stance as Kirikama arrived. When the proctor started the match, she wasted no time, forming rapid seals. "Kenjutsu; Yontori no Nakigoe!" she called, leaping forward. Kirikama moved to the side, but suddenly doubled over. Appearing behind him, Kujaku kicked him down and stabbed through his back - Tetsuko had a moment of alarm, believing she had pierced his heart, but Hibito was quick to announce that it was his right side.

"I'd really like to take my time with this, so struggle all you'd like." Kujaku told him, twisting her blade. She pulled the other free and prepared to put it through his arm, but he abruptly melted into the ground, leaving only bloodstains and his hat.

"Ah, another doton user? Interesting!" She smiled, also sliding underground at a rapid pace.

Kirikama resurfaced suddenly a moment later, having been thrown, and Kujaku followed soon. He stood with surprising speed, forming seals and crouching down, dropping tagged kunai that quickly disappeared into the ground.

Kujaku snorted. "Explosive traps, hmm?" She questioned. "Is that really all you've -" She was cut off as the earth crawled up her leg, grabbing hold tightly.

The tagged kunai flew out of the ground as Kirikama crossed his arms, bombarding her as they exploded. A layer of her dress had moved up to shield her, but her hair had been singed, and that was enough to make her livid.

"I'd thought to draw this out, but actually, I think I'd enjoy getting rid of you quickly." She hissed, but sheathed both of her swords. bringing her hands together, she formed four seals, and ribbons of chakra thick enough to be seen twirled around her before her gown fell into pieces, forming a huge tornado of feather-shaped blades that quickly sucked up Kirikama before anything could be said.

Blood spattered across the arena, and Maitsu gave a choked gasp just before something flew past her - when Kentsu recognized it, he was almost sick.

A finger.

Without waiting another second, Maitsu jumped the railing. The proctor stopped Kujaku's technique the moment her feet hit the ground, and the medics rushed over again. Kentsu barely saw Kirikama's body, as he was thrown to the ground when Umerano pushed past him to leap down and prevent Maitsu from attacking Kujaku. What he saw barely resembled his fellow genin.

Umerano dragged Maitsu outside, and Temari took Tetsuko out as well. Kentsu hadn't noticed, but Tetsuko was heaving, doing his best not to chuck up his last meal. Mokuren had closed her eyes - probably before the bladed tornado, as red dotted her eyelids. Hibito had a hand over his face, and Koyama had lowered himself to the ground to stare at the wall opposite. With some concern, Kentsu watched Kanemaru's sensei take both of her students out of the room.

"Are-?" he started to ask, not even sure what he wanted to know.

"Kiri-kun lost a lot of blood. I don't know if..." Mokuren trailed off. "Kanemaru and his team are going in a different direction from Ume-ba or Ringo, and it's not anywhere near where Kiri-kun's being taken." She resumed in a businesslike voice. "I don't think they'll do anything further, if that was the question."

Kentsu tried to nod and shake his head at the same time, and then stopped. Distraction, he needed something to think about. "Who's left?"

"Koneko-chan, Ezo-san, Yukio-chan, Momo-iro." She listed, eyes still shut.

"Natora, Shitori, me, and Kira." Koyama attempted to translate, frowning up at her.

* * *

_**Sorry about the sheer violence of that scene..? It's a lot more than anything else I've written, so I feel the need to say that.** _


	23. Arc 3: Deathbirds and Tigers!

**_Arc Three, Chunin Exams; Chapter Ten, Deathbirds and Tigers!_ **

Nobody bothered to actually scold Mokuren for her nicknames, and they waited quietly for the next set of names. 'Okamiyama Shitori vs. Aihara Kira' appeared soon enough. "Good luck," Kentsu wished Kira as he passed by them on the way to the stairs.

"But - that leaves..." Koyama protested, shooting a worried glance towards Natora. She didn't catch it, and that only seemed to increase his concern.

Neither participant looked particularly enthused, although Kentsu remembered how excited Kira had been earlier. They dropped into stances and began to circle after Nanase opened the match, avoiding the larger spots of blood as they went.

"This is stupid." Shitori fumed after a minute, breaking and leaping at Kira. He threw her into the wall, and she kicked off to fly at him again, flashing through hand signs. He dodged, this time - a mistake.

"Yama no kouji!" she declared as she landed, and with glazed eyes, Kira surrendered.

Nanase nodded. "Winner, Sangogakure's Okamiyama Shitori."

Kira fell like a puppet with its strings cut."Oops..." Shitori laughed nervously, going to help him up. He smacked her hand away, looking more exasperated than angry.

"What kind of jutsu was that?" He asked.

"Mmmm... I'd rather not say, sorry...ahaha..." and with that, Shitori walked away. Kira was left shaking his head.

Kentsu was, too. "Next fight's the last one, right? It's probably still going to be lame..."

"No doubt." Koyama mumbled, walking toward the stairs.

"The board hasn't-" Kira began, but then shut up, looking embarrassed. One last fight, only two genin left. The randomizer was unnecessary.

"Sarutobi Natora versus Nara Yukio." Nanase called. Natora, at least, seemed excited, hurrying after Koyama. Mokuren had a feeling that she wasn't ever very good at reading the mood.

"It's pronounced 'Koyama'," the leaf genin corrected irritably.

At that, Mokuren fumed."Is he whining about that? At least his name was in kanji!"

"Mokuren... how did you write your name on your forms?"

She opened her mouth, and closed it. She'd used katakana, as the form recommended. Sinking down, she sulked.

Below, Nanase began the match. Koyama stood normally, looking frustratedly towards Natora as she launched herself forward, fists first. He blocked, falling into a defensive stance, but did not attack even when she pulled back.

"Oi, what are you waiting for?" Natora asked him. "You know, if you don't want to be here, you can always quit."

"Natora!" He called out, sounding upset. "How can you do this?" Koyama asked, more quietly.

"Do what?"

"Attack a friend so easily!"

Natora had to double take. "Huh? What are you - we're shinobi," she answered, bewildered. It soon hardened into a scowl. "Don't tell me you're afraid you'll hurt me? Someone like you can't lay a finger on me, Koyama!"

"I don't want to hurt you, it's diff-" he was unable to finish his protest as Natora's hit blasted him into the wall. Koyama didn't move, although his eyes flew open and he glared at Natora as he slid to the ground.

The proctor waited a minute before saying, "Nara-san, you have ten seconds to stand before I call this a forfeit." Koyama only raised himself at three seconds to go, even then hesitantly.

Natora's anger had not dissipated; if anything, it was building up.

"He's going to be slaughtered." Hibito said, almost immediately wincing at his own word choice.

"Is he usually this passive?"

Kira shook his head. "Him and Natora have been friends forever, and he gets pretty weird about her, used to try and convince her to be a civilian - she took _that_ well, let me tell you. To be honest, I think they'll get married someday, once Koyama quits being stupid."

Unexpectedly, Koyama moved, making hand signs. He didn't announce his attack, but Mokuren recognized it as the Nara's famous shadow possession technique when his shadow moved towards Natora's. It didn't connect, as she leapt out of the way, onto the wall before jumping to the ceiling. The room's lighting was about mid-way, and so her shadow was fully out of his limited range. She activated a technique quickly, and Koyama wobbled briefly, before forming genjutsu release twice. While he did so, though, Natora dropped on him, pinning him to the ground and knocking him out easily.

Natora barely waited to be announced the winner before stomping back to Kira, Hibito, Kentsu, her sensei, and Mokuren.

"He's such an idiot," Mokuren heard her mumble, "... not taking me seriously..."

Nanase seated herself on the floor as she began to talk. "Four weeks from now, at eight in the morning, those participating in the tournament will be expected at Sangogakure no Sato's Akemi Arena.

"Lateness by even a second will be grounds for disqualification. Further information will be given in two days, including the fighting order for the tournament. Any fighting between participants from now to the tournament will also disqualify all those involved. This includes casual spars between teammates. The full rule set will also arrive in two days, but most of it is common sense." Nanase finished, looking relieved that her job was completed.

* * *

_**End Note: Up next, the six pre-tournament chapters. I changed my mind about them, so I'm very confused about how to present everything I had planned.** _


	24. Arc 4: Hotsprings and Hospitals

_**Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter One, Hot Springs and Hospitals** _

For the first time since she left the hospital, Mokuren had slept more than twelve hours. It felt like someone had replaced her bones with lead, and she wondered if it would be so terrible to skip her 'morning' routine. As they had finished preliminaries around seven in the morning, she argued to herself that she had already stretched.

In the end, she dressed and locked up the room she was meant to share and headed down the hall. Temari had been up for most of the day's early hours, but it seemed she had not come back quite yet, or Mokuren hadn't noticed her enter or leave, but she was sure she had not been _that_ tired.

Her teammates' chakra indicated sleep, so she didn't bother to knock, simply picking the lock - someone had set a few traps, probably Kentsu. It seemed like he intended to specialize in them, with consideration to his recent fights.

They were in sleeping bags again, but clothes were scattered about instead of food. She debated waking them up just to be annoying, but eventually settled on turning all the wall art upside down and stealing the light bulb, then resetting the traps and locking the door.

Mokuren doubted she could sleep, and she was fairly hungry. Tetsuko had gotten breakfast before sleeping, but the other two had not bothered.

She had won some of Hibito's money playing cards, and now blew it on 'breakfast' at a nice place. It was almost eight in the evening, and Mokuren spent a while picking at her food, deciding what to do next.

From the restaurant's outdoor seating, she noticed when Maitsu arrived at the hotel - probably from the hospital. Mokuren doubted she had gotten much sleep, and visitation hours were likely over now. She would visit the next day, she silently promised. For now, she heard a group chattering about a hot spring and decided to follow them.

There was only one onsen around the Sand, and it had high entry fees, but she had gone when she could. Her father's family in Arunde owned the only onsen in all of kaze no kuni that did not have gender barriers. She and the onsen had both been named after the same thing; a great Magnolia tree that towered over the springs.

As Mokuren sunk into the water of the women's bath in Sango, she wrinkled her nose. She'd been a real brat about her father's childhood stories, mocking him more than once for being so grateful to a tree that he named his first child after it, or twisting it around and accusing him of naming her after a pervert zone. That was what other adults seemed to consider Mokuren Onsen, anyway.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Why's your hair still in ponytails? You should take it down."

Mokuren stared the blue-haired child down. "My hair's always up." She informed her seriously.

"Even when you shampoo?"

"Always."

The little girl made a face and walked away. With a sigh, Mokuren stretched and stared up at the 'sky'.

Her father had enjoyed a rather lot of hobbies, even though he had been more consistent than Karusuke. Stargazing, especially - he claimed that Suna had the clearest sky in the world. Wave country probably had so much light pollution that Mokuren would be just as frustrated above ground as below.

She was drawing a blank. She'd slept, she'd eaten, Mokuren didn't need anything. Her general hobbies, like bothering neighbors and family friends, were not great ideas. Stargazing was out. She'd finished her training scrolls, suffered through the 'romance' novels she had accidentally packed, and Temari had returned to the hotel. Her newest hobby, working with her summons, was ideal, but reminded her of Kanemaru. His talk with Hibito had been a disaster, the fight the icing on the cake. Her old hobby of picking up odd jobs was unwise in a foreign town at night. She wondered if Sand ninja were allowed in any kind of official library - probably better to try during the day.

Eventually, she just returned to the hotel, choosing to rest on the mats in Tetsuko's closet. It was with some surprise that she woke up, three hours later, to the sound of Kentsu whining.

"Did they have to end the second exam at midnight? Nothing's open..."

"You should have eaten before you slept."

"The only reason you did is 'cause you emptied it!" In reference to the puking. Silence then reigned, and Mokuren was tempted to whistle.

"You know..." Tetsuko began, "... you might have to fight her. In the tournament."

Noo, nope. Assuming they meant Kujaku, Mokuren would interfere. At his current level, she couldn't leave someone like that to him.

"Yeah, well. I'll kick her ass!"

"...'Course. But - what if Mokuren has to fight her? I mean, she's Mokuren, but..."

That seemed like a good time. Swooshing the door open, Mokuren said, "How cute."

She gave herself bonus points for the fact Tetsuko jumped high enough to bang his head.

"Y-you! What - get out of there!" Kentsu barked, waving his hands around.

"Not until Ringo apologizes."

Tetsuko understood immediately, so she took away a few points. "You want me to be sorry for caring?"

"I want you to be sorry for doubting me," she corrected.

"Well, I want you to apologize for eavesdropping!"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, I just heard my name."

"So what, you teleported -"

"Then what were you -"

"Ah, look, the dawn lights are coming on. I'm so glad they account for summer." Mokuren commented loudly after her sudden attack knocked both down.

Shoving the pillows off, Kentsu began to rant, but Mokuren hurried out to check if the free breakfast station had opened yet. It didn't serve much, but she had some hopes.

Around ten, Maitsu knocked on the boys' door, and was unsurprised when Mokuren answered. "Visitation starts at eleven," she mumbled, and Umerano stepped up to give Udonsu and Kirikama's room numbers.

"Thank you, I - we will come by," Mokuren corrected, catching Kentsu's scowl.

Maitsu nodded and left. Umerano gave her pseudo-niece a small smile before following.

Tetsuko went to check with Temari, and the three set out to look around stores and such until eleven.Kentsu took note of posters advertising a festival in a couple of weeks, and wondered if they would be able to attend.

Mokuren shared some of her winnings from Kanemaru, and they stocked up on weapons, seals and wires. They had twenty-seven days left to train, and Mokuren suspected this was their last day to do with as they pleased.

At the hospital, they decided to visit Udonsu first. Tetsuko didn't think he was ready to see Kirikama, but he didn't say so. Udonsu was already awake and eating when they arrived, and Aida was sitting with him. The pink-haired boy was surprisingly enthusiastic, although Tetsuko noticed Mokuren's cringe when Aida apologized. Apparently, he felt he needed to for being such a lousy opponent.

Udonsu himself was pretty positive about his own injuries, but grew very confused when asked about Kirikama.

"Did something happen?"

"Have you talked to Maitsu?" Kentsu asked, grimacing.

He nodded. "She didn't say anything about Kiri-kun, though."

"Well... I'll ask her about that." Mokuren mumbled, opening the door. "I think she's with him now."

Kirikama's room was much larger, and Umerano stood by the door. "They're only allowing one person at a time," she explained.

Mokuren nodded. "Why didn't you tell Udonsu?"

"I know it's unfair, but he shouldn't have to worry just yet."

Raising an eyebrow, the younger brunette let that go. "How's Kiri-chan?"

"He's no longer in immediate danger, but... He hasn't woken up yet, and with his injuries, there's been some talk... I'm sorry, I'll be direct. The doctor does not think Kirikama will be able to return to Wind country for quite some time, and doubts he will ever be able to live as a ninja again."

That... Was extremely direct. Mokuren didn't know what to say. Her first thought was to ask if Kamiki had been informed, but she wasn't a relative and probably shouldn't be. Kamiki had few friends, none of whom were in Suna, and it was altogether more stress than she could handle alone.

"Can we request a doctor from Fire country look into this?" She chose to ask instead. Wave was a small country with little reputation; there was a chance that the doctor was ill-experienced. Fire country was well-known for its medical experts, however.

Umerano shook her head. "A specialist will be coming to look at him soon."

There wasn't much else to say. Maitsu exited soon, allowing Mokuren to enter his room. Kirikama was hooked up to an impressive number of machines, and she could see he was breathing steadily from the doorway.

Sitting beside him, she wondered if he would find his mummylike appearance amusing. There was no visible skin on his arms, but it was clear that he had lost most of at least three fingers, his left pinkie, left ring, and right thumb. With a sneaking look around the room, she lifted the blanket to look at his toes. She couldn't quite tell, but he didn't seem to be missing any. Chunks of his legs looked to be gone, however, and that was sickening enough.

Tetsuko and Kentsu visited him as well, after coming to find her. The three left the hospital together, deciding to track down Temari. There was a reasonable chance that one of the them would have to fight Kujaku - and there was little time to waste.


	25. Arc 4: Self-Reflection

_**Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Two, Self-Reflection** _

Temari was unusually solemn when Mokuren led the others to her. It was almost two in the afternoon, and she had been on her way back to the hotel.

She agreed to start training them immediately, although she said she would have to handle each separately. As potential opponents, Mokuren and Kentsu should not know each other's new techniques.

Hesitantly, Tetsuko also requested training - there were far too many situations he was entirely unprepared for as a shinobi, as hard as that was to admit.

He had expected to be turned down so that Temari could focus on the two participating, but instead Temari almost seemed relieved. "Teams should always improve together," she told him. Soon they arrived at the largest training ground Sango had to offer foreigners, and started immediately on warmups.

Even though they were together all the while, never starting anything new, Temari still proved how seriously she was going to treat them. Strength exercises, running, chakra exercises, even the basics could be improved - and _needed_ to be improved - and she made sure they knew that. She promised that the next day would be much more intense.

As such, with a little grin, Temari gave them an assignment over dinner. "I want you to write about your weaknesses and strengths, and draw conclusions about what you need to overcome those weaknesses. From there, we'll build on new techniques. Write it like an essay," she added teasingly.

"Due when?" Kentsu asked, looking ashen.

"Whenever you want to start on a new technique," she said, "but, 8 AM tomorrow is the earliest I'll accept them."

Whenever, she had said, but Tetsuko knew better. That was another shitty test of hers. Did he care enough, want this enough? Would he really do anything to get stronger? If so, he'd be ready by 8 AM, no matter how much he hated writing. That's what she had really meant.

Pulling out paper and a pencil, Tetsuko settled in. Weaknesses, strengths, and what he needed to work on, or something like that. Three things to address, that's all. He could do this...

Kentsu had come to the same conclusion about the deadline, but he didn't know how to start at all. Weaknesses were the first thing to write about, but he didn't know what to say at all. Positioning himself upside-down on against the wall of the hotel's game room, he tried to meditate on his flaws from the exams.

In the first, he had been completely useless. The illusion had taken him by surprise, and physically injured him. He hadn't noticed Mokuren's attempt at communication at first, and he wouldn't have managed to help anyway. Kentsu was hopeless when it came to genjutsu. He would write about that.

In the second exam, people had just kept finding him. Nobody else he talked to had half the trouble he had on that first night. Mostly, that had to have been bad luck - but Kentsu had never good at hiding, or sneaking, or anything subtle. He'd hoped to just be strong enough that it wouldn't matter who saw him, subconsciously. That was definitely a flaw for a ninja, a huge one. He didn't want to acknowledge that on paper, though.

In the preliminaries... Kentsu thought and thought, but he was still pretty proud of that fight. It'd been really boring, sure. Nothing fun or flashy, but he had adapted well to the circumstances and thought out a good plan. Even in the face of an opponent he pitied, he hadn't shied from beating him up. It had been necessary.

Genjutsu and subtlety weren't his only weaknesses, obviously. He had poor chakra control still, and he knew he could be very weird about trust. He hadn't trusted Mokuren, doubted he could ever trust Yuri, but no matter what Tetsuko said he believed in Azami. Stubbornness, that was the issue there. Probably. And, he relied too much on his contrary instincts.

In battle, though, he had to have more weaknesses. That sandstorm, the events that followed... He'd screwed up so many times. During the days before Mokuren woke up, Tetsuko and he had fought several times. Each time, they were desperate, needing supplies, shelter, needing to return. Mokuren's life was at stake. Kentsu couldn't remember much of those battles; he'd done a lot of running, played distraction plenty. They had been terrified of moving Mokuren, spending a lot of their time taking it in turns to guard Mokuren and search for caravans and towns and the place they'd gone for the mission. It was close, it should have been close.

If he'd paid more mind to his surroundings, would he have made it back there and gotten aid? The real fights were a blur of fear and anger, nothing he could learn from.

The fight that Mokuren had interrupted, if he really wanted to term that a fight, was still clear to him. He'd been dead tired and demanded an early switch on watch, and Tetsuko had barely been out for an hour when he came to try and rouse Kentsu. Tetsuko had heard hollering, and with Kentsu non-responsive he had been brave enough to seek out the origin alone. When Tetsuko had recognized the danger, he had tried to draw it away at personal risk.

Even though Tetsuko had failed, and his captor had found them, at least he'd tried. Kentsu had woken while he was gone, and for an awful moment believed Tetsuko had abandoned them. He had grabbed Mokuren's weird sword to patrol, as he'd been playing with it a lot and someone needed to keep her safe. He figured she'd be angry about it, but the energy in it was hard to control and interesting, and fascinatingly familiar. Although, apparently it was Mokuren's dad chakra?

Not relevant. He couldn't get distracted like this, or he'd never be able to write.

When that man appeared, and with Tetsuko in tow, Kentsu had mentally given up. A definite weakness; stubbornness only when he didn't need it. He'd been very sure that they were all going to die, that there was no way to save Tetsuko or anyone, and thus there would be no point in dropping the sword.

From all of that, what had he learned? He really needed to be more aware, but that wasn't something that would help him in the tournament. Before further missions, he would definitely need to address it - it had also been the reason Mokuren was taken then.

Focus, though. Tournament first, he reminded himself, trying to push past the guilt and resentment starting to cloud around.

Tetsuko had started out writing a list. He wasn't strong physically; he was really lacking the confidence his teammates held; unlike them, also, he had no purpose, no reason to fight outside individual circumstances. It really was easy to see why he had been doing so poorly, and falling behind; Tetsuko needed a real goal if he was going to catch up. Something that would allow him to stand up even against people he liked.

His first list had held many, many irrelevant insecurities, and things like cowardice and gullibility that Temari couldn't fix. Prioritizing his village and his team was likewise something he would need to work on alone. It felt like a dream was what he needed most. Yuri had been the one to really drive the lack home, and he wanted to put that lesson to use. Tetsuko remembered the answer he'd given Temari when the team had formed, something based entirely on opposing Kentsu. The two had been on the outs for a while there, and with that resolved he had to admit to being completely uninterested in the Kazekage title.

He took a while to write about the weaknesses he thought could be addressed, briefly thinking on strengths and coming up with nothing. At most, Tetsuko had average aim, and he wasn't smart. He was getting okay at illusions, apparently? Considering how easily he had worked through the first exam, but he decided that had been luck. Maybe wariness was a strength of his? Except he was completely useless when he fell into another one of his frustrating, love-at-first-sight periods.

Whatever. As for addressing his weaknesses, he could focus more on his physical conditioning to strengthen his body. He _would_ find a goal. Confidence... there were books about that, as much as he cringed to consider reading them. Maybe he could also find something about being less hopeless with crushes. He could make an effort to view things logically? But, he felt he was usually logical anyway, and yet still unintelligent. He pondered on it some more, but eventually just decided not to list it if he didn't know how to solve it. Kentsu wasn't smart either, although he'd stolen the show on traps; he didn't need to be smarter, maybe.

That was still something Tetsuko found frustrating, although he definitely wouldn't write about it. Before that one spar, Kentsu had been totally uninterested in advanced traps or wire techniques. Those had been _his_ interests, and yet Kentsu was so much more adept now. Tetsuko still had better aim, and illusions were something he doubted Kentsu could ever become good with, but he missed being the one with more information. Envy was something he really shouldn't be feeling against his oldest and only real friend. They didn't even talk much these days, just snip at each other.

... Maybe they could work on this essay together? They were idiots, so they might miss obvious weaknesses. He'd have to introduce it carefully, because he didn't like looking so pathetic even in front of a friend, and Kentsu would be offended if he suggested it was for Kentsu's benefit.

Kentsu was still thinking in his preferred upside-down state, but sat properly when Tetsuko entered the game room.

"Kentsu," Tetsuko began, "I... wait, why is your face red?"

"It's not red." He insisted. "Do you need something?"

Tetsuko wondered if Kentsu had been doing something ridiculous before, but that wasn't important. "I, well... have you started your essay yet?"

"I'm going to start it in a minute!"

"I, sorry." Tetsuko said, wincing. "I'm not trying to nag. I..."

Kentsu squinted, looking at Tetsuko, and then at the paper in his hand. "Do you need help with it?"

He'd meant it mockingly, but Tetsuko looked relieved. Well, Temari hadn't banned them from working together, and things would probably work easier. "Okay."

Settling in against a table leg, Tetsuko smoothed out his papers. "What are you doing with it now? Planning?"

"Yeah." Kind of. "Are you having a hard time thinking of stuff, or something?"

"I, um. I've got a list of strengths and weaknesses, but I'm not really sure about solutions? Although I'm probably missing stuff, on my lists."

Kentsu asked for a blank page to start taking notes on his own thoughts, and although it took a while to get down to what Tetsuko really needed, Kentsu found it amusing enough to make up for the frustrating stutter. "You think you don't have any goals?" He repeated, snorting with laughter. "You said you were going to be Kazekage first, didn't you?"

Tetsuko glared. "You... aggh. I wasn't... I don't want to be Kazekage. I've never wanted to be Kazekage." Looking down, he added, "Sometimes I'm not even sure I want to be a shinobi at all."

Of course, he came to regret that immediately.

"You don't - _what?_ Where the hell is that coming from?"

He tried to shrug it off. "Forget about that, I said it wrong."

"Said it wrong?" Kentsu looked incredulous. "What did you mean, then?"

"I meant... Well, lately, I, um," he grasped for a less shameful line, and ended up blurting, "Do you remember why I decided to become a ninja?"

"Yeah. Did you forget?"

Tetsuko nodded, grimacing.

Kentsu took a second to stretch, thinking back. If it was so important, he had to remember correctly.

"Do you remember when I lived with you and your dad for a while, and he was okay leaving the shop to me, but not you? You got really mad at him about it, and he was trying to argue something about me being better with paper stars as a reason?"

Tetsuko made a more-or-less gesture, but looked puzzled.

"The two of you started yelling over dinner about it once, and I'd already told him that I wanted to be a ninja I guess, so he brought that up and was talking about how a weapon shop wasn't something you would ever be allowed to run if you couldn't use your own," he needed a word to mean things a store sold, but it just wasn't coming to him. "Stuff. You told him that you'd become a master of every single kind of weapon his store offered if that's what it took for him to stop treating you as a disappointment."

Now that Kentsu was talking about it, Tetsuko could almost remember. "But civilians aren't allowed to practice with most of them."

"Right. That's what he told you, back then. So you told him you'd become a better ninja than he ever was."

Tetsuko digested that. He didn't like to remember the days when he had been so rude to his father, but... He felt more than a little ashamed to realize that he wasn't making good on those statements at all, even if they had been spoken out of resentment. No wonder Nesuri had so little interest in his son's training, when he'd forgotten those boasts so easily and settled for being third-rate. Still... he _was_ ashamed, and he wasn't sure if he could dedicate himself to those goals. Mastering weaponry, becoming better than his father...

It took some more chatting, some less serious discussions, for Tetsuko to calm down and decide to write about that regardless. Maybe the reasoning hadn't been noble, but weapons were something he still had an interest in. He didn't want to do this for his father, but impressing him was still something he wanted to do.

There wasn't a lot else he needed. He and Kentsu mostly discussed grammar and paragraph lengths rather than their lists, and Tetsuko felt increasingly irritable about the paragraph on strengths as Kentsu scribbled it out easily. They still were up until midnight on them - mostly editing and fretting - at which point an employee asked them to return to their rooms. Tetsuko fell asleep almost the instant he laid down, feeling much more tired than he had realized.

Several hours later, the boys woke up suddenly to a terrifyingly loud ripping noise - Mokuren stood between them, ripping a towel into strips. One blink, two - "What are you _doing_?"

"Good morning," she said instead. "Can you kick Kentsu? I'm not allowed." Kentsu had turned away, holding his head.

"Why..? Wait, what time is it?" Tetsuko sat up, realizing how bright the room was with some alarm.

"Seven fifty-two." Mokuren replied, raising her eyebrows cheerfully before she left the room. Tetsuko barely paid her mind, grabbing at their papers. He checked them over, reading his own to the end. Was it long enough? Would Temari accept his ridiculous goal? Kentsu's was next, and he grumbled. It was much longer, especially the strengths section. Whatever. He took a moment to shake Kentsu awake.

It took longer than he liked to convince Kentsu to jump up, dress, and rush to breakfast. Temari was at a table, enjoying some weird food with eggs; she was perhaps half-finished, and nodded toward them as they entered the room. Kentsu went for food, leaving Tetsuko a little torn; he dropped by the table with their papers first, Temari seeming uninterested in them, before getting something light. He was pretty nervous, but at least it was over.

They started eating, Tetsuko keeping an eye on the clock. At eight sharp, he set down his chopsticks and passed their essays to Temari. He didn't think he was wrong about the smile in her eyes, so he felt a little reassured. Enough to get more food. Temari started reading them as she finished off her breakfast, asking occasionally for clarification. She seemed a little sad while reading Tetsuko's, but gave open approval of his goals. She found Kentsu's conclusions hilarious; apparently, he'd gotten up again after Tetsuko fell asleep and crossed out his serious analysis of his mental weaknesses, demanding more "flashy and fun" techniques rather than any kind of intelligence training.

It had altogether been more productive and less stressful a venture than Tetsuko had expected. Temari assured them that their essays had given her a lot of ideas, some of which they could start on immediately.

"Oh, right." Kentsu said suddenly. "How was Mokuren's?"

Temari's sigh wasn't unexpected, but they were comically surprised to hear that Mokuren hadn't seemed to have started one yet. "There's no sign that she's working on it. I'm not sure what she's thinking."

And when Tetsuko confronted Mokuren later, she actually seemed honest when she replied, "I forgot about it."


	26. Arc 4: A Divide

_**Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Three, A Divide**_

Mokuren mostly felt impatient as she was forced to confirm repeatedly to Temari that she hadn't started the essay at all when the woman came looking. The three of them took their time heading out to start training, dragging their feet as though Mokuren would suddenly say, "Just kidding!" and come along after all. She didn't particularly want to explain that she hadn't lost any of her drive to become stronger, hadn't lost any of the passion that had flared when she saw Kirikama in that hospital bed.

She just didn't need training from Temari, now.

Shortly after dinner, she'd received quite a surprise when a familiar brown mouse appeared in the baths with an invitation to the Land of Rats. She would summon Nezuko, and then be reverse-summoned; the rat counsel had decided her fit for training as a summoner. Perhaps it wouldn't be very useful, in which case she could probably slam together an essay for Temari and get in on that after all, but a chance to manage without her 'teacher' was very, very welcome.

It endeared the rat council to her that they had cited getting her away from Temari specifically as a reason for giving her training, too. With that sort of understanding, she couldn't help being eager to go. Writing a quick note excusing herself as needing a few days to think carefully on their ridiculous assignment, she wondered if anyone would kick up a fuss. Maybe they'd figure it was some other weird Mokuren thing and just shake their heads.

They still didn't know about rats; only Kanemaru and Hibito did. Likewise, she still hadn't talked to her teammates about Zoruna, and without that knowledge they couldn't possibly understand her feelings on this.

She decided that the best place for summoning and de-summoning would probably be Tetsuko's closet. She was very fond of it, somehow. Her own closet was too conspicuous; if she appeared suddenly, and Temari was around, Mokuren would be in for a lecture. Appearing loudly in the boys' closet, if they even noticed, was something she wouldn't have to explain. Arriving, she shut the door and took a moment to concentrate, drawing on more and more of her chakra.

She called out, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" cutting her finger and slamming down a hand. Mokuren was pleased to sense that she had gotten the right rat on the first try.

"It's nice to see you," were the first warm words from Nezuko. The black-eyed white rat wore vivid red-plated armor, and was, on four legs, a little taller than Mokuren's knees. Her tail held decorations - pink-beaded rings, this time. They had met once before, somewhat accidentally; Mokuren had been experimenting with increasing amounts of chakra.

The first speaking rat she had ever summoned, Nezura, was a messenger, needing less than half of the chakra Nezuko cost. Nezura was fiercely loyal, determined, and wore her heart on her sleeve. Nezuko was not so easily described.

"And you," Mokuren returned honestly.

Nezuko ground her teeth for a few seconds, probably in a happy way. Her chakra at least was pleased. "I was hoping you would have time to come in the daylight. I did talk to Nezuto about you, but he's a little nervous!"

"Nezuto, huh?" Their name scheme was pretty fun.

"My twin brother, he's on the dusk patrols. You see, rats aren't meant to be up in the day! Dusk and dawn are a lot nicer. There's just not enough space for everyone to be awake at once! My eyesight's pretty good, too, so I'm always up in the day."

Mokuren had once read that rats were nocturnal, but she supposed rats would know better when rats operated.

"Are you ready to go?" Nezuko asked, stepping carefully onto her lap. "Have all the things you want to bring? Also, you'll be sleeping either at my place or Nezuchi's. They're a lot larger than me, so there's more room, but Nezuchi is also a dusk rat. I don't know when you'll be sleeping, though... ahh! You know that rats live underground, right?"

"Underground?"

"Mmm! We have the most beautiful town, though. This Sango reminds me of home, if home pretended to be aboveground, that is! Well, if you're ready, we should go."

Mokuren nodded. She suddenly wondered if this would be as much fun as she'd expected, though. What if rat city was a sewer?

In a very different place, though, a messenger bird had started a fight between her teammates. The fight schedule had been delivered as planned, and held truly awful news. The first fight would be between Okamiyama Shitori and Sarutobi Natora; the second, Maitsu vs. Awaichi Kujaku; the third, _Mokuren_ and _Kentsu_ ; and finally, Yuri vs. Hibito.

Not only was it frustrating and ironic that Maitsu would have an opportunity to fight the person that hurt her teammates from the start, but Kentsu would also have to fight his own teammate. In a foul mood, he took offense at Temari's attempt to discuss what he wanted out of techniques.

"I'm not training if she isn't," he declared. "It's got to be fair."

Tetsuko didn't have such qualms, but didn't want to be the only one training, either. Temari brought up a few good points in her subsequent arguments, like that Mokuren probably had something up her sleeve, but Kentsu didn't care. She'd asked for training, must have intended to train, and if she was backing out then he would, too. Doing otherwise would probably be like saying he needed more work than she did.

Mokuren, if she had been around, would have been pretty irritated.

As it was, though, she was standing in the grandest hall she'd ever seen. There was almost no lighting in the place she had landed with Nezuko, but it was blatantly clear that this 'tunnel' was tall enough to fit the Kazekage tower in.

The faint light glittered through, brought in along mirrors positioned on the walls, revealed that the walls were almost mosaics, breathtaking works of art made up of what appeared to be scrap metals and plastic pieces. The ceiling was marble, and the floor like a cobblestone road, but without a sign of dirt or dust.

"It's amazing, isn't it!" Nezuko looked delighted by Mokuren's awe. "Come on, though. Nezuya went to sleep a while ago, and she really wants to talk with you and train you. I'm sorry to ask you to wait until she has woken up, but you do need to meet Nezu-Ou. Ah, he's not exactly the real king, but he's the largest rat summon alive! The council relies quite a lot on his opinions, and so you'll need to be careful what you say to him. We hardly know you, but there's a lot of trust in allowing you here, so please forgive us this."

That request sounded pretty ominous, but Mokuren was still fairly confident. And, increasingly excited. The largest summon? She'd been raised on stories of great battles, and plenty of them had concerned a participant's largest summon; apparently they could grow as large as an entire town. Maybe that was why the tunnels were so extreme.

She saw plenty of rats on the way to Nezu-Ou's place, rats with black spots in kimono, plenty in armor, some on two legs and some on four. Nezura, or a similar brown mouse, passed at one point. Many were Nezura's size or smaller, but a few were as large as Nezuko; the general size seemed to increase as they went along.

All of them seemed curious about Mokuren, but didn't talk to her or reach out. She hoped to get to know them all eventually, but for now she needed to meet Nezu-Ou.

After a few minutes more of walking, when the passing rats began to be taller on four legs than Mokuren herself, they took a turn into a wider tunnel. "This is the main street, both a lead to the exits and home to the council and king! If we go that way, there are markets and plenty of shops; but this way leads to the upper town." Nezuko explained, seeming to enjoy playing tour guide. "That goes to the courtrooms," she gestured at a tunnel in the distance. "And the turn on the right goes back to smaller streets, of course."

Mokuren hadn't quite noticed when the change had occurred, but these tunnels seemed much darker. There was little she could tell about the ceiling now. Some apprehension finally made itself known, as she began to wonder if this was the best decision. Was she really ready?

"Here's the turn!" Nezuko told her, stopping before what Mokuren only then noticed was a door. The size was astounding, and Mokuren wondered if any human could open it. Nezuko stood on two legs, knocking sharply.

It took Temari longer than she expected to find Kentsu; he'd been a bit of everywhere, it seemed, since they had returned to the hotel. She hadn't anticipated the level of trouble a genin team would be, and honestly wasn't sure how to handle Mokuren's sudden attitude, or this note.

Something about letting Kentsu see it and think about it first seemed right. Tetsuko was just lurking in his room; it wouldn't be hard to take to him afterwards. She just had some hope that Kentsu would understand Mokuren better, or at the very least listen to Temari list some of the techniques she knew to be flashy.

On the rooftop, Kentsu had been irritably pacing. He stopped at the sight of his teacher, almost lashing out verbally.

"Could you read this?" Temari requested, holding out a note. Taking it and unfolding it, Kentsu recognized the handwriting and took a second to sigh before he read.

"I am very sorry, Temari-sensei; I want to take this assignment very seriously, and complete it in my own time. I am going to be out for a few days to think about it thoroughly. - Mokuren."

That... he had no idea how to react, not until Temari asked him what he thought. "I think she's been kidnapped," Kentsu answered frankly. "This doesn't make any sense. A few days? On an essay?" No, obviously not. What the hell was she _thinking_? And just leaving them with this?

"Has Tetsuko seen this?"

Tetsuko didn't know what to think either, but he offered a guess that he hoped would resolve at least one other issue.

"Whatever she's doing, I'm sure she's training. She wouldn't actually spend days on an essay, especially not when..." a hospital room, bandages, so many machines; Tetsuko couldn't forget, or forgive, and he knew Mokuren wouldn't either. "Maybe she thought that training on her own would improve everyone's training? Since Temari will have more for each of us, and Mokuren won't be limited by that at all?"

It didn't seem like her at all to take off like this, but Tetsuko was sure she was fine. And Kentsu's insistence on waiting for her would mean he'd have to wait or look like a jerk, so ideally this reasoning would lead toward training after all?

* * *

_**End Note:** _ _**Rats & mice are really cool! they have a kind of laughter but it is outside the hearing range of humans so I'm trying to be careful about it, so there's just a lot of exclamation marks to indicate where Nezuko and others are probably chuckling all to heckie. Teeth grinding is also something done when content, or stressed. Contrary kinda, but she's sensing their emotions anyway so the distinction exists.** _


	27. Arc 4: All Aboard

**_Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Four, All Aboard_ **

Kentsu had eventually agreed to start, although his lack of enthusiasm made everything more difficult. Temari had been able to wrangle out of him that he wanted to do more with explosions, at least, so she asked him to focus on chakra control while she researched.

Tetsuko was working on his aim, not with shuriken or kunai but with senbon. If he practiced daily with them, and worked harder at his physical conditioning, Temari would start him on wind techniques with tessen and then, perhaps, close-combat weaponry. He wasn't well suited for close combat, but his goal would require it; he would learn.

Mokuren was spending her days on practice spars with various rats as teammates and enemies, getting to know individuals and their techniques. Additionally, she was working to increase her chakra reserves, even if it had to be at the cost of control; she even found that she could use some chakra from Hasutaoretaken, despite the clash of their natures.

Her meeting with Nezu-Ou had gone really, really well. It'd been terribly intimidating, meeting such an enormous creature in the dark doorway to the ridiculously large space he called home, but it had helped that the one known as the rat king had been struggling to work through piles of paperwork when she came by.

He had a variegated black and white coat, from what she could see, with patches of missing fur that revealed battle scars. Like many of the rats she had seen, he wore clothing; a red and blue haori and socks similar to tabi on all four feet, with the separation for the back toe.

The red on his haori was discovered later; at that level of light, Mokuren couldn't tell for sure what color it was.

Unlike his appearance, his attitude was soft and he apologized repeatedly for the mess of papers.

They were actually very neat; the entire room looked like something from an interior design magazine for giants. He had a sitting area with differing levels for differently sized company. Even the corner behind the door didn't seem to have a speck of dust, although checking allowed Mokuren to recognize that the floor was probably tiled marble. She wondered where they were getting all of this marble, honestly.

Nezu-Ou offered her food and drink, asking polite questions about her and her interests. He took a while to get around to the topic of the Zoruna family, details of that incident, and Zoruna Ryuu's death. "He was a close friend of mine," Nezu-Ou said, and declined to know the name of his killer. "He disliked revenge; I want to respect him on this."

"Do you... also dislike revenge?" Mokuren asked, somewhat uncomfortable. She regretted asking, as her motive for doing so was obvious.

Tilting his head and creating a breeze, Nezu-Ou asked for the circumstances. He was a very patient listener and that made it easier to talk; and he decided at the end that while he hoped she did not kill her father's murderer, he would do his utmost to help her find that person. If becoming chunin was her current goal, he was happy to approve her training, and hoped she would visit him when she had the time.

A number of Nezuko-sized and larger rats were rounded up for her first lesson, which concerned memorizing the chakra and fighting abilities of each while they sparred. They spent the time analyzing Mokuren's capabilities in return, figuring out what she could improve and her weaknesses in taijutsu. They tested stamina, strength, and kept her so occupied that when she finally sat down, she couldn't convince herself to stand for several minutes.

Afternoon had passed, and Nezuko introduced her to Nezuto, her brother. He had wind-type chakra, like Mokuren; Nezuko's was lightning, although she was not particularly good at ninjutsu. Nezuko headed to her nest soon after, though, and many others did also; Mokuren didn't feel that she could sleep now if she tried.

Instead, Nezuto called some of his fellows, like Nezuchi on the dusk schedule. Many of them specialized in ninjutsu, she noticed, and they collectively decided to work on hers.

The first thing they noticed was the chakra she was sealing regularly into Hasutaoretaken; "It converts chakra... You can't get yours back, can you? Why do you seal chakra in it?"

Mokuren had a couple of motives, but the pertinent one was diminishing her reserves to increase her control. It was an effective strategy, but as they pointed out, inconvenient for summoning. This took a large amount of chakra, and control had little impact on its success.

Most of her other major techniques were small enough that she didn't need to bother increasing her control either, so she was started on exercises to expand reserves, and on practicing summoning specific rats. It was difficult to work out how to call a particular one, since each size class had very similar chakra requirements, and she enjoyed the challenge.

Tetsuko hadn't been very hopeful about Mokuren returning that night, but he was still disappointed. He had talked to Temari, but it did seem most likely that she had left on her own. That was certainly rude, but not a punishable offense, from what they could find. In his spare time, he managed to access a Sango library and look into senbon techniques. Nothing had worked out yet, but Tetsuko hoped to amaze and impress.

Kentsu had been introduced to several techniques, one of which he latched onto immediately; Tetsuko had no idea what it was, because Kentsu demanded it be kept secret.

As happy as he seemed with it, he had completely ruined an outfit during his first practice, and another later on, prompting Temari to remind him to train only when supervised.

The first week of their free month passed this way, with Mokuren working away on the ability to use summons and eventually, fighting in total darkness; Tetsuko devoted time and effort into improving his aim, even unwillingly requesting tips from his and others' teachers. Out of the two, Temari was the one who would come home looking burnt now, rather than Kentsu, and he was very euphoric about it.

Of course, that period came to an end during the eighth night, when Mokuren, training in the dark in a tilted marble hall, missed an attack on Nezuchi and was instead sent flying down the hall, smacking into a wall with a loud and painful squelch.

"Your leg is broken, and you're an idiot." Mokuren's doctor pronounced, and chittered. "I highly recommend a natural recovery, as your other condition would be worsened by chakra. As such, the council is reevaluating what your training here can consist of."

It ended up being less about the leg, and more about what her doctor had to report on how neglectful Mokuren seemed to be of her health, sleeping perhaps three to five hours a night and eating half as much as could be expected from a shinobi.

Mokuren didn't consider it any kind of neglect, but the council said that training the sort of person who would go quickly to their death was pointless, and insisted that her lack of concern with her own welfare implied a lot about Mokuren's personality. She was permitted only to work on what they called their most important technique - which had a five-step process, the first of which would take months.

Basically, she was being told to sit perfectly still, meditate on her chakra and the chakra of her surroundings, and do her best not to be distracted by anybody. For eight hours straight. That was all the time she was permitted to attempt, with interruptions of rats trying to stuff her full of food now that they had learned she had 'poor nutrition'; after her 'meditation' period was up, and she was asked to sleep, she took some of Nezuchi's paper and writing utensils and found a lit corner.

Mokuren was ill-tempered, patient only as an act; she was terrible at reading the atmosphere in conversation, she was dreadful at making friends; her single-minded determinations left the people who cared about her behind. Her lies and plots were unfair to her teammates and had formed most of the communications gap between them.

Mokuren often forgot that other people were necessary, or had ambitions of their own; all in all, she was terrible with people. In battle, she often forgot about injuries and would overstrain her muscles frequently, leaving openings to an aware opponent. She tried to finish things quickly and with surprise, and tended to fight more poorly as time went on, with barely average stamina for a genin. She underestimated opponents based on initial impact, and had some difficulty developing strategy on the spot.

Twice, she had been mentally unfit in a combat situation and her teammates had suffered for it.

Often in a tough fight, she would lose herself to her pride, feeling that she was destined to win and thus not trying as hard as she should. Mokuren had very, very rarely lost, and she knew that history made her overconfident.

However, Mokuren was strong, and trained continuously to become better. she had determination, and a fine memory; she took pride in her ability to lie, to adapt, and in her awareness of the world around her. She cared about Kentsu, Tetsuko, Karuru, Reiko-san, and so many others in Suna, and she would fight to protect them no matter what; Mokuren had been told all her life that true strength lay in protecting the people who matter to you. She had other ambitions also, and enjoyed being strong; she was intelligent, too, when it came to it. Analyzing a person and their capabilities was something she believed herself to generally be good at.

She did think that she was becoming softer on people just by meeting more of them; her inability to read the atmosphere was always easy to make into a joke. There were a few people now that she could call friends, probably more than before this tournament.

She hadn't lied as much recently, which had to offer some kind of brownie point. Mokuren really, really needed to work on the whole running off alone thing, though. That wasn't serving her as well as she would like.

Communication difficulties were also easing as her team grew to know her better, but she knew that it should have been on her shoulders to change. Mokuren viewed her body as a tool, in many ways, and she supposed that would have to change if she wanted to be anything great. Stamina had been a partial focus in training with Nezuko - there was a balance between trusting and distrusting that Mokuren needed to work harder to find. She also would probably need to start immunizing herself to popular sedatives. What else was there? Pride. Mokuren wasn't sure what to say about taking away that. She could work on pretending to abandon it?

Onto the pages, she scribbled all of this, rearranging and editing to try and create an essay that didn't look as rushed as it was. She added to it by providing anecdotes of weak points and strengths, and debated tacking on at the end of her essay that for now, technique wise, she wanted a new quick finisher, preferably one that could incorporate her blade.

Three additional pages were obtained; Mokuren tried to start them like any old letter, but that wasn't appropriate. She tried to think on what she could do beyond an apology to make up for any hole she may have left. Would dinner cut it? That could be useful to get them talking together too, if anyone resented her. She hated that the situation was so likely to be uncomfortable, but if the rats weren't going to train her there was no reason to stay.


	28. Arc 4: The Arrogant Tree

_**Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Five, The Arrogant Tree** _

"I'll forgive you, but under one condition," Tetsuko said sternly, waving around a forkful of steak. Kentsu had already broken, shoveling greasy vegetables into his mouth. Temari was still pretty irritated, and was poring over Mokuren's essay and letter of apology.

It had been difficult to convince Nezuko to let her leave the Land of the Rats, and without telling the counsel, but Nezu-Ou had approved it and promised to cover for her. Mokuren had appeared in their closet at half past four, barely leaving the boys' room in time for them to enter the hotel following training. She had been glad that they were together, as that had made apologizing a less personalized affair. Kentsu almost hit her, although he settled down soon enough. Mokuren refused to reveal how her injury came about, and told them little of the sort of training she had been doing. Temari claimed to be willing to train her if given an essay, and Mokuren turned it over promptly.

Rather than standing awkwardly in the hallway indefinitely, Mokuren suggested they shower and have dinner, with her paying as an additional apology. She was having a hard time telling if Kentsu was angry or not, but he wasn't past the point of persuasion with food. Tetsuko seemed to have already forgiven her, but wanted to milk it for all he could.

"What's your condition?" She asked, resigned to accepting it.

Tetsuko's grin was a little disarming. "You have to explain... with full honesty..." Okay, maybe she would refuse. Mokuren wasn't ready to talk about the rats yet. "... why you give everyone nicknames."

"Oh." She said, blinking; the poker face that had started to form faded away. "Ahahaha, guess I can't pretend I don't give out nicknames, this time..." that had been fun, though.

"I knew you were pretending!" Tetsuko snorted.

"Yeah, yeah. Hmm... I don't really know what to say? It was a habit I picked up from Tano-sensei."

"Who?"

Mokuren took a moment to think back, debating what she could say. "I used to be really frustrated with the Academy's pace, so I went out looking for a ninja teacher back when I was... eight, maybe?" She'd been a lot closer to five, probably. Just a little lie. "He mostly taught me tricks; how to act, how to read people better..."

Kentsu had slowed his eating to stare at her, but Mokuren couldn't quite tell why.

"What's the point of the nicknames, though?" Tetsuko pressed. She'd been hoping he would allow it as some weird hobby.

"Mmm, well..." Ah, this was going to upset the boys a bit, she guessed. Mokuren would have to phrase it carefully. "Tano didn't actually give nicknames, per say, it was more like... with me, even though he was teaching me, he would always call me by the wrong name. He said that mine wasn't worth remembering yet, sort of. I asked him further about it once, and he said that he wouldn't remember my name properly until I earned his respect. That's sort of what my nickname system is based on... although I have other reasons?"

Kentsu swallowed harshly, clearing his mouth to snap something. Tetsuko beat him to the punch. "So you don't respect us?"

"Mmm... well, I..." Temari was frowning at her too, and that was definitely irking Mokuren. "With you two, at this point... a lot of it is about irritating you." No, that was too frank. Much too frank. She shouldn't have said so. "That sounded bad. I should have said... the nicknames are about expectations. If I give someone a nickname, it usually means that I want them to impress me, become more than I expected?"

"You're so arrogant!" Kentsu yelled, but he didn't seem too upset. Maybe her haltering tone was doing some damage control, as much as she hated sounding unsure. Temari still looked annoyed, and Tetsuko seemed crestfallen. She wondered what he had expected the reason to be.

Rather than press any more, Tetsuko had changed the subject, putting on false cheer to show that all was forgiven. There was still an air of unease around them, but the three genin grouped together in the boys' room for cooldown stretches, as much as Mokuren could do with her injury, and a little more talk. Tetsuko tried to get out of her what she had been up to lately, but all Mokuren would admit was that she had been training. They finally thought to tell her about the potential match-ups, and she found Kentsu's irritation regarding the potential of his training giving him an unfair advantage hilarious. Actually, it was almost sad; maybe Mokuren was arrogant, but she couldn't see herself losing to Kentsu. He seemed to pick up on that, unfortunately, chewing her out again.

Maitsu and Kujaku's fight was more worrisome; Mokuren wondered if Maitsu would take offense to some advice. Probably, but she would still try and offer it.


	29. Arc 4: Hints and Fish

_**Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Six, Hints and Fish** _

Two weeks passed agonizingly. Sometimes slowly, sometimes much too fast. Mokuren wasn't making the kind of progress she had expected or hoped for, and she held Temari responsible. Mokuren and Kentsu hardly even met in this time, as one or the other was almost always training or sleeping.

Tetsuko shared his goal, and the reasons for it, so she spent some of her free time looking into senbon techniques and discussing what she knew of the varying situational uses for smaller weaponry.

Mokuren also decided to start planning ways to prank Tetsuko's dad. He sounded like a jerk, giving up so easily on his child.

She'd gone back to the hospital a couple of times, and had been informed that Kirikama sometimes woke up. Mokuren had been unlucky in her timing, though.

Udonsu was released after the first few days and told her that Maitsu had disappeared with Umerano for training. They hadn't been back to the hotel since, although Umerano came to the hospital daily.

The Konoha shinobi largely seemed occupied, and most of those who had failed in preliminaries had already left Wave. Kira and Aida had stayed, and their teacher was almost always with them when Mokuren pestered them. They tried to say that Natora had received permission to return to Konohagakure, but Mokuren didn't believe that for a moment.

"When Koneko-chan is back, tell her to come visit." Mokuren told Aida anyway, and he promised to do so.

She had no idea what Kentsu was doing lately, other than training and sleeping, as she still often slept in their closet. Vindictively, she supposed he probably wasn't getting as much social interaction. It was kind of grating on her that his training was so obviously going over better than hers.

The meditation the rats had assigned her wasn't being neglected overmuch, although Mokuren saw no real use in it. It felt only a little more pointless than training with Temari.

"You really are doing well," Temari had insisted more than once, but Mokuren knew better. Finally, with six days left in the tournament, Temari had admitted defeat.

"I don't think there's any more we can do with this, before the exam starts. You should work on your other skills - but carefully."

Mokuren tried not to glare. She wasn't going to risk injury with the tournament this close - did Temari think so little of her?

Temari did catch on to her irritation, though. "I'm telling you that because I thought Kentsu understood it, and then he proved me wrong." She said, a wry expression forming.

"Is he alright?" Mokuren asked, somewhat startled. She hadn't noticed any kind of injury, when they had seen each other briefly that morning.

"Perfectly fine, luckily. I was near enough... that's our last session before the tournament, though."

It only occurred to her later that Temari might be stopping her training now for the sake of fairness.

Mokuren had expected the next day would be calm, and that she could catch up with Kentsu. Maybe trick him into talking about his new technique. Unfortunately, that was the day that visitors for the tournament began to pour in, and upon waking, Mokuren instantly recognized several chakra signatures.

"What the-" Tetsuko began to yelp as she slammed the closet open. Mokuren didn't wait for him, though.

"Visitor," she offered as an explanation, before taking off.

She found herself heading towards what seemed to be the most luxurious hotel in Sango. Upon arrival, Mokuren decided that walking up was the best approach. Her old friend was really an idiot... Something like this was obviously beyond a simple restaurant owner's means.

The security was worse than she had expected. It was a civilian hotel, though. Slipping through the window, she walked through the suite's kitchen and took a pillow from the bed.

Connected was a lounge room, of sorts. Mokuren could see into the bathroom, and decided quickly that she would be spending quite a bit of time here. The couches looked incredibly comfortable, and there was more than enough room. Even with the piles of papers and grumbling brunette shuffling through them, Mokuren had no trouble throwing herself into a clear space.

Reiko had a knife out in a flash, but it caught on the pillow long before it could get near her. Mokuren wanted to laugh, but instead lamented the loss of a perfectly good pillowcase. Had it been silk? "What a waste..."

"You... Oh, of course, its you. Could you try knocking, next time?"

Mokuren waved that away. "This place isn't safe at all, why didn't you bring your guard along?"

"That would be pretty stupid. I am trying to lay low." Reiko scowled.

"In a hotel like this?"

"I'm lying low comfortably." Seeing Mokuren's soaring eyebrow, she added, "I earned all of this through hard work."

Mokuren snorted, but didn't argue. "You shouldn't have come to Sangogakure at all, you know."

"Are you worried for me? Anrei is plenty capable, but Kemu's helping out, too. I'm not concerned at all." Kemu didn't work in the restaurant half at all, and Mokuren wondered if Reiko was overestimating her ability to keep the conversation from being overheard. Or had she finally hired him in some legitimate capacity? Either way, it wouldn't do any good to discuss business further, if Reiko was comfortable enough leaving the country.

"Mmm... so what are you here for?"

It was obvious, and Reiko said as much. She was very eager for a chance to watch her old friend's daughter lose in front of several thousand people, although she actually stated Mokuren's future loss as more of a fact than a vague possibility.

"You shouldn't get your hopes up, really... The others are pretty pathetic. I'll win easily."

That was met, not with the sneer she expected, but a laugh. "I can't wait to see the look on your face when you lose," Reiko taunted.

Mokuren started to smile, and then caught herself. Reiko must have really needed a holiday; Mokuren figured she should send her on another one someday soon, if it put her in this good a mood. Anrei, too.

Silence fell, and Reiko passed her some of the papers. "You can forge my signature, right?"

"Who says I want to, though?" Mokuren said, even as she began signing. Reiko's remaining stacks seemed to be mostly forms, probably for taxes or something - she wouldn't have been working on anything unnecessary in a place like this.

They had a few peaceful minutes, in which Mokuren was able to become better acquainted with the couch she had picked as her home for the next week or so. Then Reiko said suddenly, "Your father will be watching, too. Wherever he is. I know it."

Usually, they didn't talk about him. Teru had been a friend to Reiko, one who kept many of her secrets. Mokuren was starting to take up the position he had once held, now that she was a shinobi, and that had only made it stranger to mention him. "Yeah," Mokuren agreed, shrugging herself into the couch cushions. "I'll, um. I won't disappoint him."

"You'd better not." Reiko said, but she was smiling. "Since I helped you out, back then, I don't owe him anything any more. That's your debt now."

"Right."

"So behave. And deflate that head of yours. I know he didn't want you to be a ninja, but I know the sort of ninja he _would_ have wanted you to be."

Mokuren nodded, ignoring the way her eyes stung. She knew what qualities Reiko meant... but, there were other things to worry about than what her father would think.

"Good... So, hey, who is your opponent for the first match?"

Reiko was not very good at conversation, Mokuren couldn't help thinking. "Didn't you get the match schedule already?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I know who Kerei is,"

"Kentsu... My teammate? You've met him." Several times, even.

Reiko shot her a withering look. 'I can't remember every fool I see,' it seemed to say. "Is that the scrawny one?"

Across the undersea village, Kentsu and Tetsuko each sneezed over their cards.

"Does... that mean she's talking about us?" Tetsuko asked, looking around for a tissue.

Brows furrowed, lips pouting, Kentsu shrugged and passed him the box. Tetsuko took it with a sigh - Kentsu was sulking like a child. He'd wanted to spend today bragging, since Tetsuko had told him how Mokuren's training was going. Then, she'd taken off (from their closet, again) to see somebody and hadn't reappeared yet.

Tetsuko supposed that she would have just gotten under Kentsu's skin about his recent slip-up, anyway. There hadn't been much explanation, because he still wasn't allowed to know of Kentsu's new technique, but he didn't understand why training had been discontinued for him. And for Mokuren, apparently. Had there been an accident with hers, too? Or, maybe Temari had just wanted a break.

"Agggh, I'm sick of this," Kentsu said suddenly. Throwing down his cards, he declared, "I'm sick of waiting around. Let's go fishing now."

The two had been discussing fish more and more lately. Fish were everywhere and very cheap in Sango, and the two had been making it a part of almost every meal. The idea of catching their own had been planted in their minds after seeing a bait and tackle store. Although they weren't really sure how fishing worked, they thought it sounded very cool and useful.

So, they had informally decided that they would spend some time fishing, preferably as a team. But Temari and Mokuren were who-knows-where, so...

Tetsuko delayed their exit by half an hour, whining and pleaded and making excuses. Fishing sounded cool but neither of them knew anything about it. They would look like idiots, where would they even start? Kentsu's best idea was simply to walk into the store and try and figure it out what they would need by staring at each item. Reluctant to ask any help from the store employees and unable to escape, Tetsuko had gone along with it.

Unfortunately, it hadn't taken long at all for another customer - a blue haired girl of perhaps ten years - to notice his cluelessness.

With a derisive snort, she said, "Never seen a fishing pole before?"

It was exactly the sort of mortifying interaction he'd wanted to avoid. At least Kentsu saved him from stuttering out something ridiculous.

"And you're an expert?" He sneered, moving to tower over her.

The girl was not at all intimidated. A smug grin contorted her face and alarmed, Tetsuko backed away.

"I've been fishing since I had strength enough to stand," she told them proudly.

Seeing that Kentsu, in his fury, didn't know how to respond, she continued, "Well... not everyone has as many opportunities as I do. You're from the desert, right? Of course you don't know anything. About fishing, I mean."

She meant more than that.

"My mother adores pole fishing, and teaching, too. I'm picking things up for her, but you can follow me back if you'd like. My brothers' supplies would work, since they're out for a few days."

Kentsu looked about ready to explode with anger, but the unpleasant civilian girl turned about then and casually resumed shopping. It seemed as if she'd forgotten them entirely.

The more irritable boy went back to searching the aisles, clearly not wanting to acknowledge her either. When she finished and paid, the little girl stopped only for a moment to smirk at Tetsuko. It really was their best chance to learn. Kentsu didn't like it, but he wasn't going to let his teammate run off alone either, surely.

The little girl walked fairly quickly for having such short legs, but the two kept up without trouble. She was frustrated by this, clearly, but it did wonders for Kentu's mood. He was pathetically vindictive, Tetsuko noted. That hadn't made it into his essay. It was kind of an endearing trait when it was only petty things like this, though.

They hadn't noticed the little creek the girl led them to before, despite going near there frequently. It wasn't far from the training ground they had regularly used since coming to Sango. As they followed it, an adult and a child came into view.

"Kaaaaaa-chan~," the little girl called out, her steps turning into a skip.

Without looking back, her mother said, "Koori-chan, who is with you? Did you run into trouble?"

"A couple of idiots," Koori answered. "Hey Shirin, are you getting it? Hope so, 'cause I want Mom to teach these two fishing too, but I don't want them taking time from you."

It looked like her mother and the child were working on knots with fishing line. Shirin turned, and Kentsu could see that he was around their age. He had long black hair, while Koori's mother had brown. Even aside from hair color, none of them looked anything alike. It would've been rude to ask about it, but he was tempted.

The woman stopped her work and stood, looking to them. Her vivid blue eyes were a surprise, but the rest of her face was somehow familiar.

"Forgive my daughter, I know she can be very rude." Kentsu peeked at Koori. She seemed devastated by this statement, but was recovering quickly,.

"It's fine. I'm Tetsuko. This is Kentsu."

"Ah," she smiled, and that was familiar too. "My name-"

Koori interrupted her introduction loudly. "They're Sand genin, Mom. This is probably the first time they've been _near_ a river."

The brunette's cheer disappeared promptly. "O-oh? You're here for the tournament, I imagine. I'm very, very sorry Koori bothered you."

It seemed that she was the kind of civilian that feared ninja. It was kind of strange that Koori had been able to tell they were ninja if her mother couldn't.

"She's always been incredible rude, I'll give her a talking to," she continued, but Tetsuko cut her off with a wince.

"No, no! We're really glad she caught us," Kentsu stared at him incredulously, but this was their chance, and he didn't want to be feared, "we've really wanted to learn how to fish but didn't know where to begin at all. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, we would love to learn."

It took a while for the brunette to seem comfortable with their presence, but Shirin didn't seem bothered and Koori was soon keen on mocking them. They weren't able to actually use a pole that day, as Koori was very insistent that a first priority should be learning _about_ the pole and the knots. Her mother didn't argue, and it did seem that it was Shirin's first bit of work too.

Time seemed to fly by, and the lights were darkening before they knew it. Arriving back at the hotel, they found Mokuren sleeping on a pile of their belongings.

Three half-finished games of solitaire were around her, and once awake she was insistent that she couldn't leave until she had won five more times. Despite being tired, they were up most of the night arguing, fighting. At one point, they were loud enough that Temari joined in, forcing them to clean up the trash all around. Any time someone tried to ask Mokuren what she'd been doing, Mokuren changed the subject. She was hardly being subtle, but Tetsuko didn't want to ruin the mood by pushing her.

They had intended to take her with to meet Koori and the others the next day, and the day after that, but Mokuren always seemed to disappear at just the wrong minute. All she wanted to do when they were together was play games, and when Tetsuko tried to confront her on that she vanished for a whole day.

Kentsu and Tetsuko still hadn't caught anything by the evening before the tournament, including the name of Koori's mother. It was only when they reached the hotel again that they realized they still didn't know, and that they might not ever meet her again. She had taught them a lot, and both were a bit disappointed about it.

Mokuren had the idea for a sleepover, and although Kentsu was sure it was an attempt to sabotage him he agreed easily. With money she wouldn't say where she had gotten, Mokuren helped them empty out the snack machines. Temari wasn't pleased, reminding them that adequate sleep and a good diet were necessary for them to be in top shape. Mokuren had promised her that they would be careful, and they had behaved... right up until Mokuren confirmed that their teacher was asleep.


	30. Arc 5: Akemi Arena

_**Arc Five, The Great Tournament; Chapter One, Akemi Arena** _

Akemi Arena hadn't looked nearly so large before today, and it was totally packed now. Tetsuko was really relieved that Temari had gotten good seats for the two of them, because it was clear that the chunin exams were a much bigger deal than he'd anticipated.

From their seats, he could see most of the Village Hidden in the Coral. it was astounding how colorful the buildings were, more so with the vastness of the city. Hardly any lights were visible from windows, despite the hour and the dark season. He half-wondered if the entirety of Sango was sitting around him.

Aida and Kira were in the same box, he noticed. They seemed very excited, and clearly had confidence in their teammate. Tetsuko was more nervous about this than anything, and couldn't relate.

His teammates would be fighting each other, in front of hundreds of people, with a promotion at stake. Both had been acting weird lately, and he really doubted it would be a friendly match.

He was getting worried about Maitsu, too. Tetsuko didn't know him very well, but Kujaku had been the first to show up, wearing an even more more startling armor than before. Each metal feather on this metal ballgown showed different colors as she moved, changing like a rainbow in an oil puddle. From here he couldn't be sure, but the feathers looked to be shaped differently from her other dress. Was Maitsu really prepared to face her?

Hyuuga Hibito was the next contestant to arrive, looking the same as always. Natora, Maitsu and Shitori arrived after; Mokuren came in with ten minutes left. Kentsu arrived at the same time as Yuri, weirdly enough. In all of his worrying, he hadn't yet worried about her. Was Yuri strong enough to beat Hibito? He hadn't seemed overly tough, but she didn't either.

Temari arrived finally, taking the seat to his left. The seat to her left was for Umerano, she told him, though she wasn't sure if she would make it.

When all contestants were all present, the announcer from the prelims gave some instruction, before turning to the audience.

The announcer had amplified her voice somehow, and it was with some exasperation in her voice that she welcomed the crowd, waited out their cheers, and outlined the rules for all to hear. She then named the matches, met with loud screaming every time she mentioned a Coral genin.

As those who were not involved in the first match filed into the participant's box, even Kentsu could taste the tension.

Kujaku's ridiculously cool new dress took up enough space for five people, and she had gotten stuck briefly on the stairs - but he couldn't manage a laugh. Maitsu had stalked right into the corner opposite hers, away from the balcony. Yuri had hurried to lean against the railing, staring down at her teammate. Hibito had likewise shown interest in the first match.

Mokuren had followed Maitsu into the corner, but they weren't talking or even looking at each other. Everyone was stiff and silent, angry and nervous. It was a little exhausting just looking at the other competitors, so Kentsu went to stand between Yuri and Hibito. Down in the field, Shitori had seemed comfortable and confident. Natora had seemed like... well, Natora. Kind of icy, and hard to read. As the announcer wrapped up some little talk to the pair, Natora's unreadable look became a tightlipped smile.

The two took their places as instructed, and everyone quieted down as the announcer raised an arm. As it fell, Shitori and Natora shot forward, meeting in the middle. One girl kicked, and the other blocked; for a moment, there was nothing but tense close combat - and then Shitori was knocked back, and took the opportunity to form signs in the air.

Natora followed and slammed her face into the dirt before she could finish, and bright blood spurted. Shitori's nose was probably broken, and she choked for a moment - Natora tried to knock her out then, but Shitori managed a kawarimi with a branch in the trees edging the stage. Natora didn't have an immediate chance to give chase, as suddenly every tree seemed to contain a Shitori or two.

Kentsu looked towards Hibito - as he'd expected, the boy had activated his bloodline limit to detect the real one.

The leaf genin down below started to form seals, and water from her pouch spilled out and created some kind of whip. It was thin, and Kentsu didn't know how it could be useful - that is, until she lashed it around at the trees and started to grow larger, seemingly pulling in moisture from the air.

"Using condensation. Smart." Mokuren commented, and he frowned over at her. Kentsu wasn't the only one, either. The tense silence was something they needed, to prevent anyone from agitating another.

Before it reached any tree, the water whip was already so heavy that it was causing wind. It cut right through two trees, felling them and dissipating the clones within - from what would have been the fifth target, the real Shitori jumped out and ran at her opponent. If she had assumed that Natora would be unable to change the direction of her whip suddenly, as Kentsu had, then she was mistaken; Natora's hands moved, and the whip broke into smaller, faster pieces, grabbing ahold of Shitori and throwing her far into the air. Natora jumped after her, landing a kick that sent her into the ground.

Shitori was hardly down for a second, flinging herself into an unsteady standing position right away. Natora landed after a moment, cushioned by the water she still had some control over. Pulling out a knife, Shitori rushed her.

This time, Natora waited for her. Her posture was relaxed, and a bit smug; she was definitely winning thus far. At four feet to her, Shitori suddenly disappeared, reappearing from behind and delivering a hit that sent Natora at a tree. The knife followed, pinning Natora down. She, too, was only for a moment, but Yuri broke the silence to cheer anyway.

"You can do it! Go Shicchi!"

Somehow, the Sango genin below heard that, and after dodging a hit, pointed a thumbs up Yuri's way. Natora had been attacking, but more sluggishly than before. Kentsu hoped she hadn't hit her head hard.

Whatever had let Shitori move quickly before came back again, and for a minute she tossed Natora around like a hackey sack.

She had become overconfident, though; one second, Natora was crying out and falling, but in the next it was Shitori on the ground, her left arm pinned behind her. Though she struggled and kicked out, Natora's hold was firm.

Sensing an ending, the announcer moved forward and examined Natora's grip. She began the countdown in her amplified voice, but the first few numbers were drowned out by angry yelling from Wave Country's part of the crowd. They only quieted down when at six, Shitori stilled.

Kentsu craned his neck over the balcony for a better look, and was glad he did. At three, Shitori jolted so suddenly that she managed to turn and sink her teeth into Natora's arm. She was released promptly, and wriggled away while a red-faced Natora babied her arm and screamed indignantly.

The announcer moved away, looking kind of relieved - she was a Sango nin too, but Kentsu was still a little annoyed. He had a suspicion that her counting would be much faster if Natora had been the one pinned. Shitori stood unsteadily, and reached into her belt pouch for something that glinted between her fingers. Natora's expression closed off, her ranting cut as she dropped her arm and jumped up. She chose to dodge when Shitori rushed her, probably not having enough energy to do much else.

That was a mistake; as Shitori launched past her, aimed at the walls, she threw back a couple of shining balls. The explosion that followed smacked her into the wall more quickly than Shitori could reposition herself, but Kentsu's concern was with Natora. Hibito hissed through his teeth, causing Kentsu to look to his right, but relaxed almost immediately.

The smoke cleared away strangely, and Kentsu realized it was partially steam. The two had been standing beside the muddied ground that Natora's water whip earlier had fallen on. Natora was still standing, and still had part of a water shield made up in front of her. Shitori appeared to have taken more damage from it, something that Yuri seemed to notice as she groaned.

Still, Shitori did stand again... and fall... and stand again. Natora was in a lot better shape - she didn't even wobble as she approached her opponent. It was clear who would win.

Shitori did manage a couple more explosive attacks and kawarimi before Natora managed to capture her in a ball of water, and the Konoha genin managed to hold her there for the length of the countdown, even with arguing with the announcer about whether that was a valid pin. Kentsu hardly paid attention, having lost interest in their match. He was thinking to himself about ways he could fight Natora - supposing that he could beat Mokuren, she could eventually be an opponent.

With evident reluctance, the announcer amplified her voice and called out, "Shousha: Konohagakure no Sato no Sarutobi Natora!"

* * *

**_End Note: I'm having some fun with pronouns across the perspectives, nobody really knows what to use for Maitsu, haha. I'll resolve that next arc._ **

**_I created a story to place oneshots and character profiles in, titled Mokuren:Asides. Please take a look! And tell me if there's a character you want to hear more about, please!_ **


	31. Arc 5: Bladed Feathers

_**Arc Five, The Great Tournament; Chapter Two, Bladed Feathers** _

As the first competitors left the field, the tension in the participants box rose. Maitsu turned to the door, and Kujaku gripped the railing. Kentsu watched his teammate reach out to Maitsu, and set a hand on his shoulder; he just shrugged her off. He didn't need sympathy right now.

"And now, our second match," the proctor's voice boomed out, "Maitsu of the Hidden Sand, against our own Iwaichi Kujaku!"

Tetsuko, up in the stands, scowled. The Sango min had not been nearly so gleeful for the first match - she had probably suspected that Sarutobi Natora would win. This time, she must feel much more certain of a Hidden Coral victory.

The moment the signal was given, Kujaku had wasted no time in jumping the railing. The feathers of her skirt detached, then formed wings on her back; with one broad flap, she slowed her descent, and the oiled feathers flashed rainbow light around the arena.

The crowd went wild, obviously loving it.

"Dramatic much?"

Hibito grimaced in reply.

As she touched down in front of Nanase, Kujaku looked ravenous. Her feathers reattached to her skirt frame, but were fluctuating slightly in a low breeze. Or maybe, Iwaichi Kujaku was literally vibrating with eagerness.

Mokuren dearly hoped that Maitsu would beat some shame into the brat. Getting off on the chance to defeat the remaining genin member of team Umerano...not to mention what she had done to the other two...

She wasn't a total stranger to death or pain, but Mokuren believed that in a time of peace, shinobi like Kujaku were dangerous to their own.

Maitsu had taken her time on the stairs, and was booed by many when she appeared at last, leisurely approaching center field. Nothing in her gait belied tension; Mokuren couldn't imagine what was going through her head, but surely she wanted to make the person that harmed her teammates suffer.

"Match, start!"

Kujaku's sword was out, and she swung wildly; it was clear her intent was to kill. Maitsu didn't seem to know, or maybe didn't care. She only dodged, still unarmed.

Mokuren's elbow knocked into Kentsu's as she squeezed between him and Yuri; they were both gripping the railing, keen to see what would come of this fight. It hadn't occurred to him til then that Maitsu and Mokuren _could_ be friends, but she was palpably concerned for him.

Maitsu was not typically so levelheaded. It wasn't like her, but Mokuren could tell it was not just an act. The Sand nin in the field was still unarmed, weaving through Kujaku's slashes with ease. It was difficult to understand her confidence.

Mokuren knew, though, that this was not her usual bluster. There had been a time when the two had sparred often, and Maitsu - whose strengths were more in subtlety - was always trying to give the impression that she had the upper hand.

This wasn't like that. It didn't feel nearly as calculated.

Below, Maitsu dodged a swipe by sliding partway into the earth - she had progressed in her technique; Kujaku hadn't seen her sign, despite being right in front of her.

Rather than the blade, Kujaku's dress began to come apart, flying into the earth as she signed, intent on Maitsu. She was grinning.

Then the ground buckled, and Maitsu flew up - the trap sprung around her, as feather blades swarmed, stabbing at her. Kujaku blasted a wind technique at it, massively increasing the speed and starting rotation as the tornado formed. Sparks appeared, before lighting up; the oiled feathers were on fire.

It would have been a horrifying way to watch Maitsu die, if Mokuren hadn't known that the real one was still underground.

Kentsu's jaw had dropped. He had grabbed onto Mokuren's arm, and after realizing that he thought Maitsu dead, his teammate took a second to pat his head.

"It's a clone," she heard Hibito murmur from Kentsu's other side. Kentsu He must have heard also; he exhaled sharply, pulling his arms back to himself.

" _You_ could have said that, you condescending fu-"

Kujaku was suddenly yanked underground, going down with a yelp that had someone near Tetsuko rolling in their seat. It was harder for him to find it funny, when he had just been imagining how they would tell Maitsu's father.

Someone gripped his arm. "Did she scare ya?"

When he turned, his first instinct was the say that civilians shouldn't be in this box - before he realized that it was Umerano who had grabbed him, and not the lady that had taught him and Kentsu to fish.

"A bit," Tetsuko mumbled, trying not to stare as he mentally compared the two women.

Kujaku hadn't taken long to recover, unsealing more feathers from a scroll in her pack. She couldn't seem to pull herself free, and only seconds after feathers stabbed themselves into the dirt and became stuck, she _screamed_.

The desperate, pained sound hushed the crowd again - no new injury was visible, so it followed that her legs had been damaged.

But she was not one to dwell, apparently - she rushed through a set of seals, turning the hardened earth around her into quicksand, which began to spiral.

Four Maitsu were uprooted by it, as were many feathers.

Though she did not appear to be in a state to pull herself from her own trap, Kujaku began to manipulate the blades again. Her greedy smiles were long gone; it was clear that the flaming maelstrom wa meant to be a finishing move, and it must have cost her a great deal of chakra. There was blood coloring the sand around her, too.

Perhaps she hadn't had a lot of time to think on it, but it was stupid of her to think that Maitsu would be troubled much by moving sand. All four had landed, and while one had since crumbled, the others radiated victory. One slammed down a hand, and solidified the rock again - Kujaku barely managed to throw herself upward and avoid being trapped again.

Her torn calf was in plain sight, now - Maitsu had sliced through her leg, separating the primary muscles from the bone. It dangled, still attached just below the knee.

Kentsu half-hurled, and Mokuren pushed him away so that she wouldn't get any of it on her clothing.

 _This is nothing to what she did to Kirikama_ , she wanted to remind him.

Kujaku couldn't even stand on her remaining leg - she was half-kneeled instead, and clearly crying. Still, she once again lifted her blades and her sword. They were slower, and the Maitsu just dodged, not at all concerned. The three moved to surround her, and pulled orbs from their packs.

Though she couldn't have known what they were for, Kujaku still did her best to disrupt. The orbs were thrown - not at Kujaku, but above her. A blade managed to hit one, and change the trajectory, but when the orbs broke that made little difference.

Smoke poured from them; one released purple smoke, one gray, and the final had held yellow. They mixed, and spread. One Maitsu fell back as the other two fell apart -

Tetsuko stood up and leaned across the next seat, desperate for a closer look. "What's he using? Poison?!"

"Nope," Umerano said, her voice full of pride. "Individually, those are poisonous - together, they create a very special type of acid."

"He's going to melt her to death?!"

But Kujaku did not appear to be melting. She was hastily wrapping her leg, having used something to staunch the bleeding already.

She threw an arm out, using unsteady chakra strings to reach for her feathers - which crumbled to dust before she could use them. Clearly surprised - and more clearly terrified - Kujaku tried to use her sword as a cane and stand.

Only for that to corrode away, too.

Mokuren hadn't recognized the chemicals, and resolved to learn about them - _quickly_. Without noticing, her left hand gripped the scroll her father's sword rested in. Even if her own life was at risk, she wouldn't allow Hasutaoretaken to share that fate.

Kujaku screamed, again - with rage, and possibly grief.

It almost made Mokuren sympathize.

Maitsu was not as torn. She had gotten this far, was on the verge of winning. Maitsu strode up as soon as the smoke cleared, and laughed.

Kentsu could hardly believe it. He had not seen Maitsu as much of a threat; but he wouldn't do anything so drastic against a Suna nin, surely. Probably.

Noticing that Mokuren was clutching her tool bag like a lifeline, he joked, "Maybe you should leave him to me."

"So you realized your only chance is getting me to give up?" She retorted, and brought her hands back to the railing. Then the crowd roared, and their attention snapped back to the field.

Tetsuko, at least, was watching as Maitsu had stupidly walked up - and failed to dodge a small stone that got him square in the forehead. He dropped, knocked out cold.

Nanase took a moment to stare blankly, before she began the countdown.

Mokuren had a flash of concern for Maitsu - but Kujaku was not at all interested in harming her further, instead scrambling away from her body.

"Three... Two... One."

It was stupid. So stupid, for the fight to turn around just like that.

"Winner: Iwaichi Kujaku of the Village Hidden in the Coral."

* * *

_**End Note: This chapter was rushed a bit but posting it here and on FFN simultaneously was exciting to do. The next chapter is Mokuren vs Kentsu, which is super important! Two main protagonists, having it out! I'm working on it, and hope it'll be up by Feb 14.**_

_**Unrelated, I wrote a chapterish thing about Azami, her past, and where she is during the tournament. I'm debating posting it in Asides, but it might spoil a bit ^^; should I?**_

_**As always, thank you for reading Mokuren! Please review if you have concerns or questions!**_


	32. Arc 5: No Holding Back!

_**Arc Five, The Great Tournament; Chapter Three, No Holding Back!** _

Kujaku and Maitsu were both removed from the field on stretchers, and the shock of the moment held in the meanwhile. That turnaround had almost been more painful  and surprising than seeing Kujaku's mangled leg.

Hibito broke the silence, leaning around Kentsu to stare at Mokuren. "Can you upstage that?"

Mokuren took in a deep breath, and thought of every technique she knew. She thought about the qualities of a chunin. She thought about bloodied sand and her summons and Temari-

"We _will._ " Kentsu answered with confidence. Even though Maitsu had lost, his fight was inspirational. "Your fight's the one nobody's gonna care about."

Seeing as he was a Hyuuga, that was pretty unlikely. Mokuren also wasn't sure she wanted to try and show anyone up. "The goal here is to show chunin-like qualities, not to have the flashiest win."

"I'm gonna do both." The pink-haired boy declared, and marched out the door, starting down the stairs.

"The signal hasn't..."

With a sigh, Mokuren followed him. They were two flights down when the sound rung out, at which point Kentsu stopped and turned.

He had taken on a very serious look. "I've been wanting to kick your ass, fair and square, since the moment we met. So. No cheap knockouts. No stupid tricks. And _no holding back._ Promise me!"

"Are you joking?" Mokuren nearly asked; he clearly wasn't.

She had been avoiding thinking about this fight, in all honesty, focusing on what would come after she beat him. But, she could honestly say that she was offended he thought he needed to say this.

"No cheap knockouts, and no tricks. If you don't want me holding back, then don't give me a chance to." She agreed, glaring. They shook on it.

From above, Tetsuko watched his teammates enter the arena. Beside him, Temari was making bets with Umerano; he wasn't paying enough attention to know for sure, but the idea that Temari would pick a favorite wasn't helping him calm down.

Maitsu's fight had been gorey, but it wasn't as _personal._ Though because of it, he could imagine Kentsu carved up and bleeding, dragging himself along the ground. Tetsuko wanted to trust that his teammates would have limits, but...

Out in the field, Mokuren took her place across from Kentsu. She could smell Kujaku's blood down here, the ground was still broken up, and the grass burnt where the bladenado had been. Somehow, she found that she _did_ want to leave a larger impression.

"You're teammates, so I trust I don't need to review which injuries are illegal." Nanase told them, and raised her arm.

Simultaneously, they flicked out kunai - and Kentsu rolled a smoke bomb out between them. It didn't seem to give an advantage: the sounds of clashing blades rang through the stadium.

But, there was more to it then there seemed. Kentsu would have liked it if the smoke distracted Mokuren enough for him to land the first cut, but he'd had a deeper plan. With one hand, he slashed and stabbed, and with the other he used chakra threads to fling paper-wrapped needles into the earth. 

He barely had a moment to be glad that they had gone a foot deep easily, before she kicked him and jumped away, using wind style to blast away the remaining smoke. Her eyes were trained on the ground.

It was clear that Mokuren could sense the trap, which shouldn't have been possible. He was confident that the ground gave no way of telling where the needles had gone. But thinking again of her magic ability to detect people, Kentsu should've known. He'd just have to be more thorough with the next use.

She had leapt only barely out of range, and Kentsu could hear snickering in the audience. They at least had missed what he'd done, and that made him grin momentarily. These particular tags were timed detonators, set to seven and a half minutes - an absurdly far moment, for battle, but he knew this would drag on.

With no fear of falling in his own trap, Kentsu attacked. Her wariness of the ground left an opening, and he was able to slash at her shoulder. Her responding attack hit him in the gut - or, appeared to.

Kentsu swapped with the shell of his smoke bomb from earlier, swiping Mokuren's feet out from under her and attempting to pin - but she likewise traded places, leaving a kunai that cut a line through his shirt.

"Good move," she called out from behind, just before sending him rolling into a crater.

"I'll show you something even better," he coughed out.

Mokuren couldn't see his hands, but she felt it when he created clones. Each of the four held thrice the chakra her teammate typically used for illusionary bunshin-

"Shadow clones?" 

Five Kentsu grinned in sync as they climbed up the crater walls, beckoning with their hands. "Come and find out."

"Tch." He was really full of surprises today, but she couldn't let that get to her. "It's still obvious which one of you is real, you know."

Her hand shot out, launching shuriken. Two clones and the real one dodged, leaping much farther away than should have been necessary - except, it became blatantly necessary as the remaining two violently exploded on contact, launching her back several meters.

Mokuren's bug-eyed face was exactly what he'd learned this for. He didn't know what kind of clone she had been expecting, but the sudden explosion clearly took her off guard.

Kentsu signalled his clones, which leapt into action. Unable to hit them, Mokuren was only able to dodge. Taijutsu was still an area where she held an advantage, but he knew her well. Two opponents would tire her more quickly.

Meanwhile, the real Kentsu planted a few more paper-wrapped weapons into the ground. Not all sunk out of sight, and not all were meant to; clear wires connected many of them. These were not timed detonators, after all.

Stuck between wires and clones - both now obviously explosives - Mokuren did the sensible thing and switched herself with a rock, and set off the final clones. Unluckily for her, though, the swap tripped a line.

One blast knocked her down, and a second left her rolling. Mokuren was up and dodging at the third, but clearly favoring her right side.

Well, that hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped - but a line of chakra had been created without her noticing, because of it. That was enough to make up for the amount of chakra the clones had taken.

"Kokoni arazu no jutsu!"

Mokuren had barely a moment to breathe following the final explosion. Leaves began swirling around her, and seven more bunshin suddenly appeared. 

It would've been concerning, if it was real.

"Seriously?" She barked at Kentsu, unable to keep her composure. Exasperatedly, she dispelled the illusion.

Kentsu grinned, despite himself. "Guess I was wrong about that!"

"About _what_?" she demanded, pulling out her sword.

"After that first exam, I thought you were weak to genjutsu."

Mokuren's offended noise was also vindicating. Kentsu hadn't realized how much he missed annoying the hell out of his teammate, instead of being the victim of her obnoxiousness.

"You didn't do any better!" She retorted, a bit late.

Temari was apparently a miracle worker when she wanted to be. The Kentsu in front of her was nothing like the brat she had been knocking around for half a year: explosive clones, elaborate long-term traps, and _illusions_ , of all things.

If only Temari had been half so helpful to Mokuren. The super-secret technique they'd been working on was possibly the _worst_ thing Mokuren could use against Kentsu.

The system she had already tripped only contained five tags; each of the rest had a minimum of twelve, for a total of eighty-six explosive tags. This was something she had to see to know; the connecting wires were mostly without chakra.

Knowing that they were all around could only help her so much: it would take a great deal more time than she had to get fully out of range.

Kentsu knew that, too. From his safe square, he lit and tossed a tag. He followed it up by throwing kunai through the smoke.

Explosions began setting off all around her, and though she could tell which would be next she did not always have enough time to act on that knowledge. Frustrated, Mokuren kawarimi'd with a kunai - still in range of his attacks - and swiped her blood across a half-open scroll. Water burst forth, pressurized enough to wilt a tag that had nearly melted. 

The water fell around her, sinking greedily into the earth and disarming the nearest tags - but the scroll had emptied quickly. 

A flying blade took out a chunk of her shoulder; it wasn't the moment she would have liked, but Mokuren knew that she needed a summon if she wanted to win.

"You could've used that sooner," Kentsu criticized. He supposed that Mokuren only had the one pressurized scroll; it was just like her to underestimate him. 

"You're really doing well today," she called back to him. "I didn't think I'd need to do this."

For once, she'd said exactly what he wanted to hear.

Her hands flashed through signs, and Kentsu readied a blade, prepared to block or attack. Rather than launching some sort of devastating attack, Mokuren rubbed her bloodied shoulder and slammed her palm to the ground. An enormous cloud of smoke appeared, knocking him down with it's force.

Quickly staggering to his feet, Kentsu swore. He had known she was up to something, but -

"Mmm, I forgot to tell you... When I disappeared a couple weeks ago? I was actually in another dimension."

\- but she had _summoned_ a giant, armored, spear-wielding _MOUSE._

"What is that?!" Tetsuko squeaked, nearly falling into the next row of seats. "She just - did she just -? _Did you know?!_ "

Temari shook her head, looking equally dumbstruck. "She's never said anything about having summons - no, she _did_ tell me that her family _didn't have_  summons. I told her maybe someday I would let her on the weasel scroll... where did she get _mice?_ "

"This is Nezuchi," Mokuren introduced, "and Nezuchi... this is Bishou."

"How do you do," the mouse spoke - which was, on its own, enough to make Kentsu tip over. 

"Why does it talk?!?" 

"Is that how humans greet others?" The rat asked, turning to Mokuren.

"Hm..."

Kentsu flailed his arms. "Explain!"

"Explain... How talking works?" Nezuchi asked, with what might have been concern.

Mokuren intervened at this point. "Nee, we aren't here to talk, anyway-"

" _How can a mouse even talk??_ "

"- just, soak him, okay? He's a super annoying fire type."

Right... The horse-sized mouse was here for a reason. As it nodded and began a technique, Kentsu hurried to create two more explosive clones. 

Together, the three charged at the mouse. Its head tilted back as it finished signing, and suddenly he found himself crashing to the ground, pinned by a wave of force. The same water easily wilted away his clones.

To the side, Mokuren began sealing away the water, now aware of its usefulness. She did not expect to need it again during this match, though.

"That's enough." She said, when she judged that he was on the verge of inhaling water. "Thank you for your hard work," she dismissed Nezuchi, who nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

 It was while breathing harshly as the torrent slowed and stopped that Kentsu realized something.

Mokuren was still holding something back; he didn't know how he knew, but he  _knew_ it. "What's wrong?" He coughed out, trying to ignore the pain in his lungs and with his ankle as he propped himself back up. "You've got - more. Show me, dammit."

His demand didn't do the trick. Mokuren had told him to force her not to hold back; well. He still had some chakra.

With it, he created fifteen more seal clones. These were not explosive, though he hoped she would think so. Instead they had been made with empty storage seals. 

The effort of creating them nearly knocked him out - but as the fifteen were already landing hits, he figured it was worthwhile.

Though he was sure he had stayed awake, a blink was all it took for her to finish off his clones. Mokuren stood in front of him now, saying something that he couldn't quite hear.

Unwilling to lose peacefully, Kentsu jerked up, aiming a blade at her leg. She kicked it out of his hand, and he rolled into a standing position. He did not manage to dodge the punch she planted into his gut, but she had remained close enough for him to spit in her face with his next breath.

Aggravated, Mokuren punched him again, knocking him into the dirt. Her foot slammed between his legs with a decisive crunch and finally, _finally_ his eyes rolled back, head dropping with a worrisome thud.

Panting with the exertion she hadn't noticed, Mokuren surveyed the field. Deep gouges from liquid erosion and explosions decorated the arena; it was not quite enough to hide the evidence of the last fight.

The proctor pulled her away. She had finished counting at some point, and the medical team was suddenly setting to work. Mokuren didn't quite understand their hurry.

Her own injuries were seen to quickly, and a chakra pill shoved into her mouth.

* * *

_**End Note: Every time I say "it'll be up in ten days!", that means I've just hexed myself. To be fair, this chapter was never meant to be easy.**_

_**Thank you for reading Mokuren!! Leave any suggestions in the comments!** _


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